MONG THE 



Animals . •. 



MALONE 




Oass__a.t_19L 

RonV , M ^5 

CoKyright^N? : 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 




The Author. 



OUT AMONG 
THE ANIMALS 

TALKS WITH BOYS AND GIRLS ABOUT 
THEIR OUTDOOR FRIENDS 



By Mrs. Eva Williams Malone 




Nashville, Tenn. ; Dallas, Tex, 

Publishing House M. E. Church, South 

Barbee & Smith, Agents 

I0O2 



Q2-7?/ 

2S 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
T*vn C0RE8 RecejvED 

JUN. 28 1 1902 

Q COPYRIGHT ENTRY 

Ci.ASSfloXXa No, 
COPY B. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1902, 
By the Book Agents op the M. E. Church, South, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



• •••••• • • • > 

» • • ••••••• »•*• • 

1 ••: .•- : •: • •• ••• • *: •• 



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GLLfo . 



EDITOR'S NOTE. 

The matter contained in this volume was original- 
ly prepared for the Children's Visitor. Thousands of 
children have enjoyed these weekly talks. When the 
Visitor asked its readers to name such series as ought 
to be put into permanent form, few were found more 
popular than Mrs. Malone's "Natural History Stud- 
ies," which-is reprinted in book form as "Out among 
the Animals." The volume is, therefore, published 
largely in response to a demand of our young people. 

We feel sure that these stories, so charmingly told, 
will enlarge the knowledge of the youthful readers 
and lead them to a more intelligent sympathy with 
all the animal life of the world. These short studies 
will be found truly ennobling to children, and may 
be made the basis of quite a wide range of instruc- 
tion in thoughtful households. 

(iii) 



CONTEXTS. 

PAGE 

Bugs and Beetles 1 

Uncle Si's Enemies 4 

Cantharides 7 

Weevils, and How They Come 10 

Gnats and Mosquitoes 13 

A Sawfly's Story IT 

Uncle Si's ' ' Hoppergrass " and Other Insects. . . 20 

Uncle Si's Crickets 23 

A Family Reunion 26 

A Family Reunion Concluded 29 

A Cruel Wife 33 

The Tarantula 37 

A Lady of Quality 40 

How the Butterfly Came 53 

The Swarming of the Bees 47 

The Bumblebee 51 

The Blue Jay 54 

The Turkey'. 57 

The Wren 60 

The Whippoorwill 63 

The Martin Q>Q 

The Robin 70 

The Dove 72 

The Swan 75 

The Magpie 78 

Grosbeaks , 80 

The Quail 84 

The Parrot SQ 

The Snakebird 90 

The Nightingale 93 

(V) 



VI CONTENTS. 

The Owl 95 

The Woodpecker 97 

The Snowbird 100 

The Humming Bird 105 

Canaries 106 

The Oriole 108 

The Sparrow Ill 

The Ostrich 114 

The Lark 118 

The Flamingo 121 

The Petrel 123 

The Eagle 125 

The Bat 130 

The Albatross 133 

The Gannet 137 

Mr. and Mrs. Daddies 140 

Uncle Si's Guineas 143 

The Goose Fletcher Shot 146 

Mr. Raccoon's Character 149 

Mr. Raccoon from a " Skyentifical' ' Point of View 152 

Why a Fox Would Not Do 155 

Fletcher's Mole Hunt 158 

Monkeys and Apes 161 

Mrs. Rat's Complaint 165 

The Weasel 168 

Fletcher's Pony 171 

Uncle Stuart's Talk about the Buffalo 174 

The Dog Family 177 

Wolf Dogs " 179 

The Bloodhound 182 

Hunting Dogs 185 

The Newfoundland 189 

A Prairie Dog Town 192 

Wearing the Ermine 195 



CONTENTS. Vll 

PAGE 

Fletcher Goes "Possuni-Huntin* " 119 

Hare and Rabbit 202 

The Ship of the Desert 206 

The Sloth 210 

The Armadillo 213 

The Porcupine 216 

The Lion 219 

The Elephant 223 

Hippopotamus 227 

The Kangaroo 230 

The Bear 233 

The Giraffe Family 237 

The Leopard 241 

The Rhinoceros 244 

The Mammoth 248 

The Whale 251 

Crustaceans 254 

A Crabbed Creature . . 258 

A Homely Prisoner 262 

Tortoise, Turtle, Terrapin 265 

Mollusks in General and Oysters in Particular.-. . 270 

Snake Tales 274 

The Walrus 275 

The Crocodile 278 

Fletcher on Seals 282 



BUGS AND BEETLES. 



April, with her awakening sunshine and 
freshening showers, took Fletcher much out of 
doors. Every hour that could be spared from 
the schoolroom he delighted to spend in the am- 
pler schoolhouse of Nature, and he found her a 
wonderful teacher. Prof. Craig too loved 
Nature in all her varying moods, and he knew 
that if Fletcher would keep his eyes and mind 
open the month of April held many secrets in 

trust. As the world 
about him began to 
awaken from its 
winter's nap Fletch- 
er's interest in lions 
and tigers and kin- 
dred savage beasts 
waned visibly, while 
birds and bees, bugs 
and beetles, assumed fresh importance in his 
eyes. As the insects began to flit through the 
air Fletcher's " collection " increased visibly, and 
his knowledge increased in proportion. 

Uncle Si watched " dat chile's " researches into 
the vast storehouse of nature with the keenest 
pride and delight; and if anv one had dared to 

a) 




BEETLE, BUG, A1STD PUPA. 



Z OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

assert that the State of Tennessee held a u mo' 
pierter ur mo' high-larnt" boy than Fletcher 
Beaumont, there would have been a fight on the 
spot. 

"Uncle Si," said Fletcher one day, as Uncle 
Si came in with a tin can in his hand to rest 
awhile from the back-breaking occupation of 
"buggin' dem Psh 'taters," "can you tell me 
the difference between a bug and a beetle? " 

The old man pulled his wool in a meditative 
manner, and at last replied: "I dunno ez dere is 
enny diffunce. I'se alluz thawt dat er bug am 
er beetle an' er beetle am 
er bug. I jes 'lowed peo- 
ple calls 'em ' beetles ' sor- 
ter lak dey calls 'taters 6 tu- 
bers' — when dey wants ter 
be kinder airyfied." 

Fletcher smiled dubious- 
ly and said: "No, Uncle 

OTGAND ITS EGG. Si 5 J d ° n 't think that ' S & 

There is a difference, I 
know; but I can't tell just what it is. But here 
comes the Professor. We'll have to ask him." 

When appealed to the Professor replied: 
^ Your idea, Uncle Si, that bugs and beetles are 
one and the same is a very common one; but 
really there is quite a difference, and the differ- 
ence is. shown from the hour the egg is hatched. 




OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 6 

The mother beetle lays her eggs, and soon after 
dies. When the eggs are hatched they do not 
look like beetles at all, but are little, soft, some- 
times woolly, grubs; and, like the butterfly, they 
cast off their skin several times — indeed, it some- 
times take several summers to change a grub into 
a full-grown beetle. But the baby bug is differ- 
ent; he is much like his parents, only not so per- 
fect. He moves about freely all the time, and 
never weaves a little house around himself and 
goes to sleep, as the grub of the beetle does. 
Beetles do not eat as bugs do. Beetles have 
horny, teethlike jaws, and sometimes teeth; 
they gnaw and grind and chew their food. But 
bugs suck in their food, and for that reason their 
mouths are formed with three or four joints, as 
the naturalists say, for 'suctorial purposes.' 
Bugs and beetles are wonderfully interesting, 
and we shall resume the subject whenever you 
wish." 



UNCLE SI'S ENEMIES. 



One balmy morning in the latter half ,of April 
Uncle Si presented himself before Mr. Beaumont, 
and his honest old face was the very picture of 
dejection. In his hand he held an Irish potato 
leaf, and he pointed to a queer little patch of yel- 
low specks on the under side as he said: i ' Jes look 
er dar, master! Lessen yer git dat Parish green 
we all's I'sh 'tater crap gwin' ter be bodaciously 
rooind." 

" Potato bugs, Uncle Si? " 
" Yes, sah; an' dis am de fust yeah I'se ebber 
seed 'em fo' June, which gibs me de insurance 
dat dis am gwin' ter be er bad tater yeah. Gin'al- 
ly me'n dis ol' tin can kin keep 'em on de jump, 
but whenebber I sees dem yaller aigs in Aprile, 

I jes gibs up an' 
calls in de Parish 
green. I'se been 
wraslin' wid 'em 
fur two weeks, 
an' peahs lak 
when I kills one 
two comes t' de 
funer'l. De Puf- 
fesser done tole 

COLORADO BEETLE AND LARVA. me yi st iddy dem 

(4) 




OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 5 

'tater bugs, ur Colorado beetles, ez he calls 'em, 
hatches free gangs ebber season; an' effen dat's 
de case, an' dey's gun deir wuk dis yearly, hit'll 
tak mo' fly blisters den dem Spanishers kin spar' 
t' keep dis po' ol' back o' mine in wukkin' order." 

"All right, Uncle Si," responded Mr. Beau- 
mont; "you shall certainly have the Paris green. 
I'll send Fletcher to town for it after dinner. 
By the way, did you know that your potato bug 
is another example of the bug that is not a 
bug?" 

" Yes, sah; I 'lowed dat wer' de fack when I 
heah de Puffesser, who am alluz er master han' 
t' call ebbert'ing proper, talkin' t' little mas' 
'bout de potato beetle." 

"Yes; the potato beetle was never known in 
what we call the East until 1859, when folks be- 
gan to travel freely to the West and the country 
began to be settled up. Before that it lived out 
in Colorado and ate a certain wild plant that 
grows there; but it soon found out that it would 
rather eat Irish potato plants than solarium ros~ 
tratum, as the wild plant is called, and ever since 
it has been coming about one hundred miles far- 
ther east every season, until now it has reached 
the Atlantic coast." 

i c I wish t' my soul hit ud trabel clean inter de 
oshun," said Uncle Si devoutly, "fur er mo' 
meaner, greedier little pest dan dem slick, 



b OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

streakedy young 'tater bugs I am' nebber fouir\ 
Why, suh, I bleeb de berry aigs is hatched er 
gnawin'; an' when two ur free o' dem oP hahd- 
backed daddy 'tater bugs lites on t' er vine yer 
mout ez well say good- by t' hit. So effen yer 
pleeze, mas', doan' yer fergit dat Parish green!" 
And Uncle Si ambled off with vengeful thoughts 
of his old enemy, the Colorado potato beetle. 



CANTHARIDES. 



Uncle Si had bent and stooped so much dur- 
ing the last week in his faithful efforts to "bug 
dem 'taters" that, as he expressed it, he was 
" down in de back." The old man was subject 
to these attacks, and there had been only one 
remedy found to give him relief. 

"Uncle Si, you'll have to have a fly blister," 
said Mrs. Beaumont as she entered the cabin to 
find Uncle Si lying prone upon the floor in front 
of the fire and crying lustily: "O, my back! mv 
back!" 

Mrs. Beaumont sent Dilsy to the " big house," 




CANTHARIDES. SPANISH FLIES, OR BLISTERING BEETLE. 

and soon the fly blister was applied, and Uncle 
Si began to get easier; and as his pains were loos- 
ened so was his tongue. "Mistis," he said, "I'd 
lak to kno' why dem blisters am called 'fly blis- 
ters.' Am it kase dey mek de mis'ry fly? " 

CO 



8 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

" Hardly that, Uncle Si," said Mrs. Beaumont, 
settling herself in a chair, content to amuse the 
old darky for a while. "They are called 'fly 
blisters ' because they are made of a kind of fly 
which the ' skyentifical ' men, as you say, call 
'cantharides.' Common people are content to 
call them ' Spanish flies.'" 

"Effen deys Spanish," said Uncle Si, chuck- 
ling with a brilliant idea all his own, "why 
didn' dem Spanishers clap 'em on t' ou' soljers? 
Den dey wouldn' er fit 'em much; leas' dey 
wouldn' effen dey all draws lak dis'n on my ol' 
back." 

" What a pity they did not think of that, Un- 
cle Si! " said Mrs. Beaumont, willing to humor 
the old darky's fancy. "But Spain is not the 
only country where cantharides are found. They 
are caught in France, Germany, Italy, and a 
cold, cold country they call Siberia; and some- 
times a few of them wander over to England." 

"Am de critter a bug? " asked Uncle Si, who, 
since the discussion about the bugs and beetles 
had been examining every insect he laid his hands 
on to find out whether it was a bug or a beetle. 

"No, Uncle Si; it is not a bug, but it is a large, 
bright golden-green or bluish beetle. It is 
much larger than a common house fly; it is from 
half an inch to an inch long. Unlike most ani- 
mals, the female is larger than the male." 



DUT AttOHG THE ANIMAL-. 

"How dey kotch dem flies?" asked Uncle Si. 
"Mebbe dey puts fly paper roun 5 sose dey gits 
stuck on t ? it." 

"No; thev 20 out very late in the evenincr or 
early in the morning, when the flies are wet with 
dew and are drowsy. They spread a cloth under 
the trees where the flies collect, and shake the 
trees, just like some people get a swarm of bees. 
You see, these flies feed on the leaves of certain 
trees, and it is not so very hard to get them. 
They are killed, dried, and pressed, then put 
into bottles and sent all over the world. n 

" I can't jes Agger hit out how dem flies gwin' 
ter tek de niis'ry out o' my back. Why couldn' 
we jes ketch er passel ob on' own flies fur de 
puppus*? '' 

"That would not do. Uncle Si. These can- 
tharides are very poisonous, and are what doc- 
tors call a ; eounterirritant' — just like you say 
' the hair of the dog is good for the bite.'" 

"I ? gin ter see de p'int.** said Uncle Si, who 
by this time was able to sit up. "Hit's er case 
o* pizen ketch pizen. I sholy am much erbleeged 
t* yer, mistis; an' I lakwise am much erbleeged 
t' dem Spanish flies.'' 



WEEVILS, AND HOW THEY COME. 



"Professor," said Fletcher one morning as 
he and the Professor started for their morning 
walk, " bug- him tin','' as Uncle Si said, "do you 
know the weevils have gotten into our wheat? 
I heard Uncle Si tell father so yesterday. Let's 
go down to the granary and see if we can find 
any, for, while I have heard of them all my life, 
I don't think I ever saw a weevil." 

So they went to the granary, where Mr. Beau- 
mont's beautiful wheat had been stored. In a 
few moments Fletcher cried out in triumph, 
" Here is one of the rascals!" and he brought to 




WEEVILS AND WEEVIL-EATEN WHEAT, MAGNIFIED. 

the Professor a small, pitchy-red beetle about 
one-eighth of an inch long. 

"Yes," said the Professor, " that is the genu- 
(10) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 11 

ine Calandra granaria^ or grain beetle; and I 
dare say it has done more harm in proportion to 
its size than any other little creature in Ameri- 
ca." 

"But how do weevils get into wheat? " asked 
Fletcher. 

"That is easily explained, my boy. The fe- 
male hides herself among the grains of wheat, 
and into each grain, or as many as she can work 
on, she bores a little hole and in it lays an egg. 
Then she closes up the hole with a glutinous 
substance, and goes on to another grain and does 
the same thing. Very soon the egg is hatched, 
and the baby weevil in the grain of wheat has 
what you would call 'a soft job.' It has two 
strong gnawers, and it just stays in there and 
eats out the heart of the wheat grain. In about 
ten days it comes out of its cage a perfect wee- 
vil." 

"I understand now why they put ' weevil 
wheat' into water and throw away all that 
floats," said Fletcher. "It's because the wheat 
that floats has all the substance eaten out of it, 
and is worthless." 

"That's just it," replied the Professor; "and 
it is said that over twenty -three thousand wee- 
vils may come from a single pair in one season. 
So you see how very destructive they must be." 

"Is the grain weevil the onlv sort of weevil 



12 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

there is?" asked Fletcher as he gathered up a 
handful of wheat to examine under the micro- 
scope. 

"Ah, no indeed! I wish it were; but almost 
every species of tree, and even the sugar cane, 
has its own peculiar weevil. The palm tree 
weevil is one of the largest of its kind. It is 
two inches long, and its larvae are cooked and 
eaten as great delicacies by the people of the 
West Indies. Many kinds of weevils bore be- 
neath the bark of trees, and destroy great quan- 
tities of timber in this way. Then there is the 
weevil whose burrows just under the bark of trees 
look so much like printed characters that this is 
called the typographic beetle. Do not forget, 
now, that the weevil is a beetle^ and not a hug" 




GNATS. 



GXATS AXD MOSQUITOES. 

"Mamma," said a baby mosquito as it came 
from its pupa case on the top of Uncle Si's "rain 
barrel," "I am so lonesome. Won't you let me 

go down to 
the pond and 
play with Un- 
cle Gnat's lit- 
tle boys and 
girls? " 

" U. n c I e 
Gnat, indeed! 
Who ever put that notion into your head, you 
misguided child? If I ever do hear of you 
claiming kin with those low-born Gnats, I'll 
make you go to bed in the very bottom of the 
rain barrel!" 

"But, mamma, Prof. Oracle Gnat said that 
he had been studying up on our family history, 
and there was not one 
bit of difference be- 
tween a gnat and a 
mosquito." egos of gnat. 

At this Mrs. Mosquito gave a contemptuous 
curl of her antennae and retorted with wrath: 
"And what does he know about it — raised in a 

(13) 





14 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

horsepond and never a mile away from where 
he was born?" 

"Why, mamma, /was raised in a rain barrel, 

and I think a pond is 
lots nicer than a bar- 
rel." 

"That's all you 
know about it, you 

LARVA OF GNAT ( WIGGLETAIL. ) gaucy hoj # Whj ? 

the very name is enough to show that there is a 
difference. 'Mosquito' is Spanish, and has an 
aristocratic sound, while 'Gnat'' — tut! it's ridic 
ulous. My family came from Cuba, and have 
some of the very best blood of the land in their 
veins!" 

Just then Sir Oracle Gnat came buzzing by, 
and called out "Cousin! cousin!" in such a 
taunting way that Mrs. Mosquito became so in- 
dignant that she sank to the bottom of the rain 
barrel and was drowned. 

' ' Stuck up thing! " chuckled Sir Gnat. "Serves 
her right! When people get too conceited to 
own their family they deserve to be drowned. 
The idea! as if anybody who had two grains of 
wit did not know that mosquito is nothing but a 
peculiar kind of gnat. We all belong to the 
Diptera family; and if Mrs. Mosquito had ever 
studied the matter, she would know that her 
name means 'little fly.' She's a little fly, and 



OUT AMONG THE AXIMALS. 15 

I'm a little fly. We both are hatched on the 
water, and she thinks because she has some 
friends in Louisiana and those Southern coun- 
tries, and because her folks did come from 
Cuba to this country, that she can put on airs. 




EMERGING FROM WIGGLETAILS. 

I guess I know a thing or two. I've watched 
young gnats and I've watched young mosquitoes, 
and they look for all the world alike, and they 
act alike, too. They dive up and down and 
jerk about and are never still a minute. Mrs. 
Mosquito says her family cannot live without 
human blood, but there are thousands of mos- 
quitoes that never taste blood, and just live by 



16 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

getting honey from the flowers like any common 
gnat. About the only real difference between 
a mosquito and us other gnats is that we can 
live anywhere that a human being can find the 
way, but unless a mosquito has a hot sun and a 
lot of stagnated water it gets homesick right 
away, and wants to move. So if anybody wants 
to put on airs and refuse to ' cousin,' I think Tm 
the one!" And Sir Oracle sailed away with a 
self-satisfied buzz. 



A SAWFLY'S STORY. 

' ' I'M a jolly Hynienoptera, ' ' a little sawfly said; 
"I yield to no bug living, and scarce to any dead — 
For niy family relations are known from sea to sea, 
From the wasps and ants and horntails to the tireless 

little bee. 
Though we differ in our habits and the manner of our 

life, 
That gives us no occasion for hatred or for strife. 
The bee that hoards his honey, the wasp with cruel 

sting, 
The ant, that faithful worker, must his own lesson 

bring. 
But as for me I'll tell you the way a sawily works, 
And show you that, though quiet, he ne'er his duty 

shirks. 
My kindred call me 'Carpenter,' and you'll know 

the reason why 
When I've told my little story, as I'll tell it by and 

by. 

Some think I'm like the hornet, but I lack his cruel 

stings; 
And I'd scorn to bring the sorrow that my cousin 

hornet brings. 
I have four brown wings as gauzy as the thinnest, 

finest lace, 
A steel-blue jacket showing of yellow just a trace; 
And when I draw my black cap over my little mug, 
I'm sure that you will own me a very handsome bng.l^ 
Yet 'tis not in my beauty I feel the greatest pride, 
.2 (17) 



18 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



For I've a knack of business that no one dare deride. 
I carry 'neath my body two cunning little saws, 
And I ani working with them when others work their 

jaws. 
My thin wings bear me swiftly to yonder leafy tree, 
The spot that I have chosen for my cradle bed to be. 
My little saws will serve me to do the work with ease — 
I slit a leaf, and in it drop an egg whene'er I please. 
And in these slits will gather the sap from day to 

day, 
Making a nest so cozy to hide my babes away. 




You've seen these spots on leaflets — perhaps have 
called them ' k galls, ' ' 

And little dreaming, maybe, the fate that them be- 
falls. 

But there they lie all hidden — so safe from human 
ken, 

Until God's time appointed, and they will come forth 
then, 

Green, striped, tender babies — what wondrous mys- 
tery, 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 19 

That some day in the future each will a sawny be ! 
With legs a score and over they quit their cradle 

leaf. 
What verdure they encounter will surely come to 

grief. 
They eat and eat, and, eating, they grow and grow 

and grow ! 
And Fletcher says, with wonder, ' ' What kills the leaf- 
lets so ? " 
But, ah ! these larval babies have learned their lesson 

well, 
And their story of destruction they never, never tell. 
At last, replete with fatness, they softly creep away, 
Weave a web about them, and hide for many a day. 
Down in the brown earth's bosom, down 'neath the 

kindly sod, 
Till spring, the radiant goddess, shall give imperial 

nod. 
Then swift they cast their garments, poor garments 

old and worn ! 
And from the hardened casement a sawny bright is 

born, 
With* wings of filmy beauty that glisten in the sun, 
And then I feel with rapture that my work on earth 

is done." 



UNCLE SI'S "HOPPERGRASS" AND 
OTHER INSECTS. 

Since Fletcher had begun to observe the myr- 
iad forms of insect life which swarmed and 
buzzed about him he was amazed at the wonder- 
ful truths to which he had before been blind. 
He knew that bugs and beetles and all sorts of 
minute creatures were pretty numerous, but 
when the Professor told him that wise men had 
already found out more than eighty thousand 
kinds of beetles and over two hundred thousand 

varieties of oth- 
er insects he 
fairly held his 
breath in aston- 
ishment. 

"And yet," 
said the Pro- 
fessor, c ' t h e 
subject is only 
in its infancy; 
and I think it 
more than like- 

GRASSHOPPER. l Y tnat 7 OU > 

Fletcher, will 
live to see a million different insects classified 
and their wonderful ways described by the men 
(20) 




OUT AMOXG THE ANIMALS. 21 

who are giving their whole lives to this study. 
Insects are found everywhere; even in the land 
of everlasting ice, where man can scarcely live, 
are seen brilliant, bright-hued butterflies; but, 
of course, in tropical countries, where flowers 
and vegetation are most luxuriant, we find the 
insect world more fully represented." 

"How long do insects live?" asked Fletcher, 
as he pinned a fine butterfly securely into his 
' 'collection." 

' ' Their lives vary. Bees and ants are the 
longest lived, queen bees living at least seven 
years; the shortest lived are some species of 
May flies, which live only twenty-four hours. 
Some insects will require three years to pass 
through the various stages before they become 
perfect creatures, and then will die in a few 
days. Of 
course in- 
sects will 
come to ma- 
turity more 
q u i c k 1 y in : 

J. LOCUST. 

warm than 

in cold weather. The common house fly will 
change from an embryo to a perfect fly in a few 
days when the weather is soft and balmy, but in 
cold weather it takes it much longer. " 

At this point of the conversation Uncle Si's 




2:2 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

wrinkled face peered into the window, and he 
said: "Is dis heah t'ing er locus', ur would yo' 
call hit er hoppergrass?" 

Uncle Si cautiously uncovered a small space 
in the crown of his hat, and as he peeped in a 
long-legged creature hopped without ceremony 
into the middle of the room. 

"Why, that is nothing but a grasshopper, 
Uncle Si. See his short, stout feelers and his 
three- jointed legs! The true locust has long 
feelers that look like threads, and his limbs are 
f our- j ointed. " 

"Well, fur my part, I can't skasely tell de 
hoppergrass f'um de locus'." 

"They are so very much alike that many of 
the books treat them together. The Western 
locust that travels over the country and is so 
much dreaded by the farmers is really not a lo- 
cust in the true sense, but is only a very bad sort 
of grasshopper. Locusts and grasshoppers are 
not like those insects which go into the grub 
state, and lie harmless for a time. A young lo- 
cust and a young grasshopper are busy eating 
from the time they are hatched. They do not 
get their wings for some time, but they get along 
very nicely without them, and manage to do so 
much damage wherever they feed that one might 
well wish for their wings to come, so that they 
could fly away." 



UNCLE SI'S CRICKETS. 

Oxe chilly March evening as Uncle Si entered 
his cabin he heard a queer, shuffling noise, and 
as he approached the fireside he discerned a lu- 
dicrous figure on all fours vigorously poking a 
stick into a hole under the stone hearth. Ap- 
proaching, Uncle Si gave the recumbent figure 
a vigorous cuff, and cried out in tones of un- 
affected anger: "What in de name o' peace do 
yer mean, yer little imp, er bodderin' wid my 
crickets? Git up f'um dere dis berry minnit an' 
lite out o' dis heah house! Tell yer mammy 
effen she doan' gib yer er good whuppin, I 'low 
t 5 do it myse'f;" and Uncle Si started the of- 
fending pickaninny off at a full trot. 

"Why, what in the world is the matter, Un- 
cle Si?" asked Fletcher, entering the back door 
just in time to see the urchin fly out of the 
front. 

"Why, honey, hit's dat pesky little Jake bin 
bodderin' my crickets ergin. I done toF him 
an' tol' 'im t' lef 'em 'lone, an' ebber time my 
back am turned he 
am er pokin' at 'em 
ergin." 

"But why do you house cricket. 

think so much of those crickets, Uncle Si? 

(23) 




24 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



They do you no earthly good," said Fletcher 
teasingly. 

"Now dat's all yer kno' 'bout hit, chile. 
Dem's my luck crickets; an' effen dey is druv' 
erway, dis ol' niggah'll happen t' sumpin' turri- 
ble. Doan' yer nebber dribe er cricket 'way 
f'um de hayth, whatebber yer does." 

"Do you ever see your crickets, Uncle Si?" 
queried Fletcher, who liked to draw the old man 
on to talk. 

"Law, yes, 'ndeed! I scatters crumbs by de 

hole, an' effen dere ain' nobody heah but me, de 

ol' man an' de ol' 'oman dey comes out an' sets 

on de wahm rocks ez naiborly ez yer please." 

"What do they look like, Uncle Si?" 

"Well, dey is sorter grayish- yaller, trimmed 

up wid brown, an' 
is got pow'ful long, 
slim laigs. Yer mout 
t'ink dat de music 
dey meks comes f'um 
dere mouf, but hit 
doan'. I'se watched 
'em, an' de ol' 'oman 
doan' mek no soun' 
'tall; an' de ol' man 
mek dat libely noise 
by kinder scrapm' he's wings tergedder. De 'ol 
'oman, she hab er sha'p pint lak er needle at de 




MOLE CRICKET 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 25 

een ob her littl' body, an' she uses dat ter poke 
holes in de groun' t' lay 'er aigs in. I'se hearn 
folks say dat one cricket'll lay ober two hunderd 
aigs; but she doan' bodder herse'f no nio' 'bout 
'em atter dey're laid. She mos' gin'ally dies putty 
soon; but de young crickets dey hatch out in de 
spring an' go t' work on whatebber green truck 
dey kin fin'. Yer see, mos' o' de ol' crickets 
dies indurin' de winter, an' hit 'pen' on dem 
aigs dat de ol' mammy done lef in de groun' t' 
keep up de breed." 

"Did you ever see any of the young crickets, 
Uncle Si?" 

"Yes, 'ndeed; many er time. Dey looks jes 
p'int-blank lak de ol' una, only dere wings ain' 
nuffin but little scales. In cose dey grows out 
atter er while. Now dese crickets o' mine, dey 
libs all winter, kase dat hayth doan' nebber git 
col', an' de col' am what mos'ly kill 'em. Mine 
am house crickets, which am de mos' frien'lies' 
an' de mos' piertes' ob all. Dere's fiel' crickets 
and mole crickets, which am mo' bigger and mo' 
boddersome dan de house crickets, bekase dey 
gnaws de roots o' vines an' wigertables. I 'is 
heah dat de house cricket'll gnaw cyarpets, but 
as my cyarpet ain' bin wove yit, dat doan' con- 



A FAMILY REUNION. 

"I think, my dear," said Mrs. Diptera — 
whose plain, everyday name is Mrs. House Fly — 
"that it is high time we were having a family 
reunion. Such things used to be common in 
our family, but of late we have lost all family 
pride." 

"Certainly, my love," said Mr. Fly, who, 
like most loyal husbands, left the management 
of social matters entirely to his wife. "If you 
desire, we'll set about the enterprise at once. 
This large kitchen table would be a fine place 
for a party supper." 

"Yes," replied his wife, "and the cook has 
left a lot of cake crumbs and the whole frame 
of yesterday's turkey, so there'll be no trouble 
at all about the menu." Mrs. Fly had heard 
that it was quite stylish to use French terms, 
and she had no idea of being left behind. 

Mrs. Fly made out the list of invitations, 
which her husband duly delivered to their va- 
rious relations, and at the time appointed they 
met in Mrs. Beaumont's kitchen. It was Aunt 
Mirny's afternoon out, and, being in something 
of a hurry, she had forgotten to take away the 
cake crumbs and turkey frame; so Mrs. Fly was 
(26) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 




quite jubilant over the menu. Aunt Mirny had also 
laid a piece of fly paper near by, but Mrs. Fly did 
not notice that. She had burnished her wings 
and brushed herself with her delicate antennoe 
until her husband was quite proud of her. 

The first 
to arrive 
was Cousin 
Horsefly, 
who, by his 
superior 
size, certain- 
ly ought to 
have taken his position as head of the family. 
He was very handsomely dressed in a coat of 
blue-black, which had a bloom on it like a 
plum. His wings were soot black, and the 
cushions on his feet looked like pretty yellow 
moccasins. But Mrs. Horsefly, though hand- 
some to look at, is a dangerous foe. She car- 
ries neatly folded in her sucker six piercing lit- 
tle lancets, sharp and strong enough to pierce 
through your boot; but her husband has only 
four lancets, which he rarely uses, as he lives 
but a short time and lives mostly upon the dew 
of flowers. But his wife is a bloodthirsty crea- 
ture, and when she sticks her six sharp poisonous 
lancets into old Zampa it is not strange that the 
poor horse is goaded to desperation. The moth- 



28 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

er fly lays her eggs in moist places, but rarely 
risks laying them in stables. 

In striking contrast to Cousin Horsefly came 
a little dumpling of a creature that Mrs. House 
Fly treated rather coolly, for she whispered to 
her husband: "Cousin Cesspool is so low in his 
origin that really nothing but blood ties would 
entitle him to appear in genteel society." Cous- 
in Cesspool was an ugly little body, fat and 
bulky and a little larger than Mrs. House Fly. 
These little creatures are born near a cesspool, 
or other impure spots, and by a special provi- 
sion of Providence they suck up the impure and 
noxious gases which would otherwise go into 
the atmosphere and prove deadly to man. And 
just in company with Cousin Cesspool came 
another relative, the sewer fly, which lives in 
sewers, and does for them what the cesspool fly 
does for other impure places. 



A FAMILY REUNION CONCLUDED. 



After that the company gathered so thick 
and fast that Mrs. House Fly had not time to 
enumerate them. There "was old Cousin Blue- 
bottle, vrho buzzes about so officiously and 
makes herself such a nuisance in the summer 
time by laying her eggs on eyery j)iece of meat 
that is ex- 
posed. Then 
there came a 
visitor from 
the far South 
who had 
come up on 
a prospect- 
ing tour and 
thought se- 
iously of lo- 
cating in 
Tennessee. 
This was the 

little, heavy- 1 Daddy Longlegs. 2 Eggs of Gadfly. " Botfly. 

set, planta- <Gnat ' Bluebottle Fly ' 

tion fly, found in countless numbers in the ex- 
treme South. Whenever hominy, grits, or other 
food made of corn, is left long enough to fer- 

(29) 




30 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



ment, this fly appears and lays her eggs in great 
numbers upon the mass. In a few hours the 
eggs begin to hatch, and soon the food is fairly 
alive with little grubs so small that they cannot 
be seen by the naked eye. By and by they 
will go into the ground, these larval babies, and 
when they come out, months afterwards, they 
will look just like their parents. Being a dis- 
tinguished visitor from afar, the plantation fly 
was warmly greeted and treated with the great- 
est respect by Mrs. House Fly and her other 
guests. 

Everybody laughed when an awkward daddy 

long legs came 
bouncing in, and 
some of the more 
exclusive said he 
had no bu'siness 
there, as he was not 
a member of the fly 
family at all; but the 
old gentleman soon 
convinced them that 
crane fly was his real 
name, and that dad- 
dy longlegs was 
only a nick-name 
given him by some disrespectful youngsters. 
After the party had all assembled and made 




AUNT MIMY. 



OUT AMONG THE AXIMALS. 31 

quite merry over the cake and turkey frame, they 
called upon Cousin Horsefly for a speech. He 
poised himself upon the spout of the coffeepot 
and began : ' ' My dear relatives, it gives me pleas- 
ure to raise my voice on this happy occasion in a 
tribute to the honored family to which we be- 
long, the ancient and honorable family of flies." 

"Hear! hear!" cried a little black gnat who 
had slipped in and was not quite sure whether 
she belonged there or not. 

"The Diptera," Cousin Horsefly continued, 
pronouncing the big family name with unction, 
"may justly be considered the most widely dif- 
fused of all animated beings, for they have 
been found from the heart of the tropics to the 
most desolate and frozen Arctic shores, and 
their habits are as varied as the lands where they 
dwell. Some of our family are strict vegeta- 
rians, some of them are carnivorous; but all 
play a useful part in the economy of nature, and 
all are undervalued and even despised by our 
supreme enemy, man, whose warfare upon us 
never ceases." 

"But we pay him back in his own coin," ea- 
gerly buzzed the Hessian fly; "I eat up his wheat 
crops." 

"And my larval infants destroy his grass 
lands," broke in daddy longlegs. 

"And we make the life of his domestic ani- 



32 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

mals a torture," cried Cousin Horsefly, the gad- 
fly, the botfly, and the tick all in a chorus. 

"And we ruin his food and his slumbers, and 
do our best to show our resentment," said Mr. 
House Fly, chiming in with the rest. 

But his wife frowned at him, and said: "My 
dear, only pleasant subjects should be discussed 
at a social gathering, especially at so joyful a 
time as a family reunion." Then, spying the 
shining leaf of fly paper, she called the atten- 
tion of her guests to it, and assured them that 
it was "a choice confection from dear Paris;" 
whereupon they all forgot their grievances and 
fell to with a will. 

When Aunt Mirny came in from her visit there 
was the family reunion all stark and stiff, and 
as she brushed them into the fire she ejaculated 
gleefully: "Dat fly paper done got in its work 
dis time sho!" 



A CRUEL WIFE. 



They were talking about looms and spinners 
and weavers. Mr. Beaumont had been telling 
Fletcher how the ladies spun and wove their own 
dresses during the trying " war times," and Un- 
cle Si and Fletcher continued the discussion as 
they went out to feed Fletcher's latest pets, a 
pen of beautiful white rabbits. 

"De white ladies sholy did do fine, but I 




A CRUEL WIFE. 

knows er spinner an' weaver dat kin beat all dat," 
said the old darky, with a merry twinkle of his, 
eye. 

3 (33) 



34 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

1 'You do? Is it old Mrs. Peters, who weaves 
carpets for mother?" 

"No 'ndeed, 'taint Mis' Peters, dough she am 
er pow'ful knowin' han' wid de loom. But de 
weaver I'm talkin' 'bout furnish 'er own thread, 
an* what's mo' she tote hit erbout wid 'er all de 
time." 

" Bless me! " cried Fletcher, " I can't imagine 
who she can be! " 

"She spin dat thread an' she weave dat cloth 
all by her lone se'f. She doan' go to no sheep's 
back nur no cotton patch nur no silkwurm for de 
truck to wuk wid, neider. An' what's mo', she 
spin douten eimy wheel, an' weave douten enny 
loom. Now, kin yer guess her name?" 

"No, I cannot," said Fletcher, in perplexity. 

"Well, den, I'll gin yer ernudder lif! Dis 
heah weaver am got eight laigs an' eight eyes" — 

"Then she's not a woman?" interrupted 
Fletcher. 

"No, not zackly," assented Uncle Si; "but 
fur all dat, she am er pow'ful housekeeper, an' 
'er cubberd ain't skacely ebber empty. " 

"I know now! I know now!" said Fletcher 
in triumph. "You mean a spider, for she car- 
ries all her materials in her own body, and I 
read yesterday that she had eight hairy legs and 
eight beadlike eyes. Mrs. Spider is your weav- 
er." 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 35 

" Dat am er fack," said Uncle Si, as he watched 
the rabbits nibbling the grains of corn. " Jes' 
you watch de ol' lady ez she weave dat web o' 
hern t' go t' housekeeping ur t' fasten er po' 
helpless fly, effen yer wanter see some fine wuk. 
She kyars her thread in little sacks under her 
body, an' hit am ez fine ez silk. When she gits 
ready t 5 fasten up Mr. Fly she hoF 'im down wid 
one pair o' dem hairy laigs o' hern, an' wid de 
rest she win' in an 5 out, in an' out, wid 'er thread 
tell she pintedly hab 'im jailed tight and fas'. 
Den dere she leabs 'im t' ten' t' whatebber debil- 
ment she hab on han', and when she gits good 
ready she gwiner come back an' suck de life 
outen 'im. But I 'low de spider am de only 
wukman dat builds er railroad an' trabels on hit 
at de same time. Is yer ebber watched er spider 
when she wanter tak er little trip go sailin' out 
on de silk thread she keep on han'?" 

"Yes," said Fletcher, "and I have seen her 
do something else not at all kind. I've seen her 
eat her own husband." 

"Yer is?" ejaculated Uncle Si in astonish- 
ment. " I knowed de ol' lady were putty mean, 
but I didn't 'low she'd do dat." 

"Yes," said Fletcher, "the female spider is 
many times larger than the male, and of course 
Mr. Spider is pretty badly henpecked. If he 
doesn't behave just to suit her, or there does not 



36 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

happen to be a fly or anything else handy, she'll 
gobble up the poor fellow in a minute." 

"Umph! umph!" grunted Uncle Si, in great 
disgust, "dat sholy am er scurby trick! An' yit 
fur all dat dere am some pints 'bout de spider 
dat er body can't he'p but lak. She am ez neat 
ez er pin, she am pow'f ul industrious an' er good 
housekeeper. But law! law! dat t'ing o 5 'stroy- 
in' 'er own pardner! Dat dun mak' er body fur- 
git all 'er good pints," and Uncle Si went into 
the house and left Fletcher to finish feeding the 
rabbits. 



THE TARANTULA. 



Oxe day a Texas tarantula met a Massachu- 
setts snider who, not being very well that sea- 
son, had stowed himself in a Pullman sleeper 
and gone out to Texas to see the country. The 
spider looked curiously at the tarantula, and the 
tarantula looked curiously at the spider. Each 
one was eying a very fat horsefly that had lit 
on a bit of dry pampas grass near by. At last 
the tarantula spoke, and she did not speak very 
gently either. She said: "That's my fly, and 

Ed advise you 
to let it alone, 
or you may get 



into trouble." 
••And I say 
it's my fly. 
and I'll advise 
you to let it 
alone." 

A n d s o, 

while they disputed over the horsefly. I took out 
my kodak, and here is the tarantula's picture. 

As you will see, she is an ugly creature, hardly 
worth looking at for her beauty; but, like some 
people I know, very interesting, with all her ug- 
liness. 

(37) 




THE TAKANTULA. 



38 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

She was about two inches long, with her body 
and legs covered with stubby, bristly brown 
hairs. The joints of her legs were very bright 
and transparent, and made me think of thin 
strips of isinglass as the Texas sunshine fell upon 
them. "Madam," I said to her, as I saw that 
the horsefly had sailed away, and thus put an 
end to the dispute. "I should like extremely 
to make your acquaintance. I have rarely seen 
so handsome a spider." 

"Spider?" she exclaimed, as she glared at me 
out of her eight beadlike eyes until I thought 
they would surely pierce me 
through. ' ' I hope you don't 
call me a spider! " 

I saw I had " put my foot 

into it," as the children say, 

and I hastened to get out as 

best I might. With my 

very best bow, I said: "I 

spider. beg your pardon, madam. 

I meant no offense by calling you a spider. The 

resemblance to one is very striking." 

At this the Massachusetts spider came up and 
took part in the discussion. He was still vexed 
over losing that horsefly, and he said rather tart- 
ly: " She's nothing under the sun but a spider, 
if she does sail around under a high-flying for- 
eign name. Look at her eight eyes set in double 




OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 39 

rows! Look at her long, wiry legs! Look at 
her hunchback! She has no neck. Neither have 
I. She's a spider, and a wolf spider at that, and 
that's the most vicious branch of our family. 
So good day, my cousin. I board in that cotton 
gin yonder. I hope while you're in the neigh- 
borhood you'll call around to see your connec- 
tions." 

With this parting shot the spider fastened a 
thread of silk to the lowest limb of a sourwood 
tree, and was soon spinning his way to the top. 

I saw that the spider had left my new friend 
in a very bad humor, and, having a great desire 
to study all new and interesting creatures in this 
wonderful country, I said with my sweetest 
smile: " Our friend is not a prince in manners, 
to be sure; but you and I can afford to overlook 
his rudeness, as it is evidently the result of ig- 
norance. I am really much interested in your 
family history, and if you will only tell it to me 
I am sure that you will be able to show me that 
yonder rude creature is no relation whatever of 
yours. One can tell by a glance that you are a 
born aristocrat." 

This put Mrs. Tarantula in such a fine humor 
that her eyes glistened with delight. She con- 
sented to give me her family history on the spot, 
and you shall have it just as she told it to me. 
But you'll have to wait until another time. 



A LADY OF QUALITY. 



"Indeed, my dears," said a mother silkworm 
as she slowly munched a mulberry leaf, "you 
belong to a very ancient and honorable family, 
and you have every cause to hold yourself above 
the common moths that flit about and look more 
showy than you. Before people ever thought 
about raising cotton our ancestors were treasured 
by kings and queens, who delighted to array 
themselves in gauzy fabrics which they owed to 
us. The Chinese for a long time were the only 




i. Silkworm Moth, Female. 2. Cocoon of Silkworm. 3. Silkworm 
before Making the Cocoon. 

people who knew what a valuable creature a 
silkworm is, and they tried very hard to keep 
any one else from finding out their secret; but 
/40) 



OUT AMOXG THE AXIMALS. 41 

by and by a couple of cunning priests went over 
to China and concealed a lot of silkworm eggs 
in a hollow bamboo cane. These were brought 
to Europe, and from them have sprung the thou- 
sands of silkworms which have brought so much 
wealth to the Western world. Ah, my child! 
we may well be proud of our history, and I hope 
I shall never again see you flying around with 
such common, lowborn insects as lightning bugs 
and bumblebees." So Mrs. Silkworm reached out 
with her two long horns and drew in a fresh mul- 
berry leaf, on which she contentedly gnawed until 
it would have seemed that she must be weary. 

In spite of her claims to ancient and honorable 
lineage, she was a homely -looking little body, 
and no one would have suspected, to look at her, 
that she was a lady of quality. Bombyx mori 
is her big Latin name, but plain people know 
her only as Mrs. Silkworm or as the mulberry- 
feeding moth. She was only about half an inch 
long, of an ashy-white color, and her husband 
was not quite so long nor so stout. The baby 
moth, or grub, is three or four inches long, has 
no hair upon its ugly body, and seems to have 
an appetite that is really frightful. By some 
strange law of its nature these mulberry leaves 
which the baby silkworm eats are changed with- 
in its body into a clear, sticky fluid, which hard- 
ens when exposed to the air. When the baby 



42 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

worm, or larva, gets its growth and is ready to 
go into the second period of its life, which is 
called the pupa state, it puts into operation its 
little spinnerets and spins around itself a thick 
house, or cocoon. Into this cocoon it puts about 
four thousand yards of silk thread, which, of 
course, looks very different from the form in 
which we get it for use. It takes the little spin- 
ner about three days to finish its cocoon, which 
is white or yellow in color, and is shaped like an 
egg. If allowed to remain undisturbed, in two 
or three weeks the insect will loosen one end of 
its self-made prison, and will come out a perfect 
moth. This moth will at once find her mate, 
will lay several hundred eggs, and then her cycle 
of life is ended, and she dies. But it is before 
it is ready to come out from its cocoon that man 
steps in and kills the imprisoned insect, so that 
the fine silk around it will not be marred or 
broken. This seems cruel, but it is the only 
way that the cocoons can be made useful to 
man. 



HOW THE BUTTERFLY CAME. 



" It will soon be the season for butterflies," 
said Fletcher, as he and the Professor walked 
through the greening meadow one sunny March 
day; "and I want you, if you please, sir, to tell 
me just how butterflies come. I have a general 
idea about the worm and the chrysalis and all 




i. Swallow-Tailed Butterfly. 2. Larva and Chrysalis of Swallow- 
Tailed Butterfly. 

that; but if Uncle Stuart should ask me to give 
him the history of a butterfly, I should make a 
poor jumble of it." 

(43) 



44 



OUT AMONOt the animals. 



"That is right!" said the Professor with an 
approving smile; " I like to see you know things 
definitely, for half knowledge is almost as bad 
as no knowledge. Well, where shall we begin 
with our butterfly?" 

"Begin at the egg," said Fletcher. 
1 i When the weather is warm the butterfly lays 
her eggs, usually several hundred of them, and 
in a few days they are hatched. " 

"Not into butterflies?" queried Fletcher. 

"No, indeed; 
not into butter- 
flies, but into 
little ugly black 
caterpillars 
with a few 
stripes of white 
around them. 
They are less 
than a tenth of 
an inch long, 
and look as lit- 
tle like our gor- 
geous butterfly 
as one can well 
imagine. These 

i. Large Tortoise- Shell Butterfly. & 

2. Chrysalis and Larva of Large Tortoise- Caterpillars eat 

Shell Butterfly. and grow and 

eat until they have outgrown four different suits 




c— > 


~^§ 




J#$? 


^&( 




.jjjjjt 


s 


2 






JOSE 







OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 45 

of clothes. The last is the bright-green cater- 
pillar with which you are so familiar.** 

"He is the fellow that ate up so many of my 
plants last year/* said Fletcher. 

"The very same, no doubt. But their eating 
days do not last long; when the caterpillar gets 
its full growth it loses its appetite and goes off 
to some tree or bush. It is getting ready for 
another change, or metamorphosis, in its pecul- 
iar existence. Each caterpillar has within its 
body two small sacks filled with a sticky fluid, 
with which they weave a network and fasten 
themselves to a leaf or some secure place."' 

"I Ye seen those funny-looking balls, tied with 
silky webs like a spider weaves." said Fletcher 
with delight. 

"Yes; and when the caterpillar has fastened 
himself in his little tent his green skin falls off, 
and he lies there apparently lifeless all through 
the long, dreary winter.'* 

"And then?" asked Fletcher. 

"And then," said the Professor, "when the 
skies have grown balmy, when buds and blo>- 
soms are ready for the butterfly's kisses, there is 
a stir in the shriveled case, and lo! instead of 
the crawling worm the soaring butterfly appears 
— not so strong and bright and beautiful as it 
will be when the sunshine has warmed it, but 
still a butterfly, with its coat of many colors and 



46 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

its free, glad wings. Are we not like butterflies? 
Here we toil and struggle in our chrysalis sta£e; 
but when we have fulfilled God's uses in this hum- 
ble sphere we shall rise on free wings and soar 
far above this poor earth of ours. The thought 
is beautiful and full of comfort," said the Pro- 
fessor as their walk ended at Mr. Beaumont's 
front door. 



THE SWARMING OF THE BEES. 



"Ting a ling! ting a ling!" went the bell 
wielded by Uncle Si, who brandished it frantic- 
ally as he cried aloud: "De bees is gwine t' 
swahni! De bees is gwine t' swahm! Git de 
new hive quick! " 




SWARM OF BEES, SETTLED. 

Uncle Si's racket soon brought out Mr. Beau- 
mont, Fletcher, and the Professor, who thought 
perhaps the house was on fire. 



48 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



" Pse been er watchin' denibees all day," said 
Uncle Si, "an' I knowed fum dere cantankera- 
tions dey fixin' t' git ready t' swahm. Mas' 
Beaumont, effen yer'll jes' keep dis bell er gwine 
libely; an' little mas', effen yer'll git dat kiverlid 
offen my baid an' he'p de Puffesser spread hit 




BEEHIVE. 

under dis heah tree, I'll git de saw an' '11 Lab dat 
lim' off presen'ly." 

Like a general marshaling his cohorts, Uncle 
Si gave these directions, to which they all ren- 
dered smiling obedience. The bees had collect- 
ed in a swarming, working brown mass on the 
limb of an immense maple tree, under which the 
Professor obediently spread the "kiverlid." 
Uncle Si, all unmindful of his "rheumatiz," 
mounted, saw in hand, to the limb, sawed it off, 



OUT AMOXG THE ANIMALS. 



49 



and allowed it to drop gently to the ground. In 
the meantime Mr. Beaumont had brought a nice, 
new hive in which some honeycomb had been 
placed. When the bees smelled this honeycomb 
they began moving into the new hive like an 
army with marching orders. 

" What is that long-bodied bee with the short 
wings at the head of the procession?" asked 
Fletcher, as with almost breathless anxiety they 
all sat watching the bees. 

"That is the queen bee," answered his father, 
who was quite an expert in bee culture. 

" What does she do, father? " 

"Well, in addition to ruling the colony, she 
lays all the eggs in the cells which the working 
bees prepare to receive them. The queen, you 
see, is mother 
as well as queen 
of the entire 
tribe." 

"But I see 
only one queen. 
Why don't they 
have several? 
She would help 
to lay the 
eggs," contin- 
ued Fletcher. l ' Q ueenBee - 2 - Worker. 3. Drone. 

"Ah," said Mr. Beaumont; "our queen bee is 
4 




50 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

no exception to other monarchs. She is full of 
jealousy and pride; and if more than one queen 
appears in a hive, the ruling queen will either 
drive her away or sting her to death. 

"But I see some dull, heavy-bodied bees 
creeping around. They are larger than most of 
the bees, but their bodies are not so long as the 
queen's. What are they? " 

"These are the drones, or father bees, who 
seem to be held in the greatest contempt by 
those little brown fellows who are so numerous. 
The smaller bees are the workers, and, as in our 
world, they are the ones on whom all the rest 
depend for sustenance. The poor drones are 
really not to blame for not gathering honey, as 
God has made them that way and they really 
cannot share the burdens of the workers. But 
they are driven out and left to starve; and if a 
drone braver than the rest tries to return to the 
hive, he is stung to death by the workers." 

"Poor drones!" said Fletcher. "I am glad 
people are not like bees, for in our world I 
don't think any one need be a drone unless he 
has a mind to." 



THE BUMBLEBEE. 

" Yer bettah stir yo' stumps, ol' man, kase 
yer ain' gwin t' be heah much longer," said Un- 
cle Si one crisp October morning as a handsome 
bumblebee buzzed past him to light on a clover 
blossom near by. 

""Why not, Uncle Si? " queried Fletcher, who 
was poising himself on the end of a fence rail in 
front of Uncle Si's cabin. 

" c Why not,' honey? Kase he gwin t' han' in 
his checks jes' ez soon ez de col' wedder come 
erlong." 

" Don't bumblebees live through the winter. 
Uncle Si? Do the poor things all die out in 
cold weather?" 
asked Fletcher with 
genuine concern. 

c 'Yes, honey, de 
men folks all dies, 
an' dem udders what 
de Puffesser call 
'neuters.' Dey ain' cells from bumblebee nest. 
neidermen nur wimmen, but dey goes erlong an' 
does de wuk an' let's de queen boss 'em. But yer 
bettah ax de Puffesserll 'bout 'em, kase I mout git 
yer twisted up an' tell ver wrong, an' de Puffes- 

(51) 




52 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



ser ud hatter git de kinks outen yer haid at las'. 
So jes* g'long t' him now, an 5 I'll dig dese sweet 
taters, kase it feel lak dere mout be fros' t'- 
night." 

"So you want me to tell you about bumble- 
bees, do you?" asked the Professor when Fletch- 
er applied to him. 

" Yes, sir. Tell me first, Are humblebees and 
bumblebees the same ? " 

"Just the same, and in Germany they are 
called ' hummel. ' I think it must be owing to 
the humming, buzzing noise made by these in- 
sects. They belong to the family ApidsB, of 
which our little honeybee is the most common 
type. Really, although the hive bee and the 
bumbleb ee 
look quite 
different, in 
all the main 
points they 
are alike. 
They live in 
colonies, as 
the honeybee 
does; they 
have workers (called neuters) and males. But, 
instead of each colony having a single queen, as 
is the case in the honeybee government, many 
bumblebee queens are found in the same nest." 




BUMBLEBEE'S NEST OF MOSS. 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 53 

"But Uncle Si says none of them but the 
queens live through the winter. That's hard on 
the rest." 

" Tes, looking at it from our own standpoint, 
nature is often hard on the weak. The male 
bumblebees die in winter, and also the neuters. 
So in the spring the queen bumblebee is soon on 
the wing, and the first eggs she lays are hatched 
into neuters. These are the working bees. 
They gather honey and are faithful servants in 
rearing the young bees." 

"Where do bumblebees make their nests?" 
asked Fletcher. ' ' I never saw one, although I 
have heard boys say there was fine fun in ' clean- 
ing up ' a nest of bumblebees." 

"You'll find their nests under bushes, in banks, 
etc. At first the nest is small, with oval brown- 
ish cells, but it is enlarged from time to time as 
the colony increases, until sometimes three or 
four hundred bees are found in one nest." 



THE BLUE JAY. 



The Professor was sick, and for the week past 
Little Boy's lessons in natural history had been 
suspended. But he and Uncle Si had wonderful 
conferences as the old darky went about his 
work; and I'm prone to believe that Little Boy 
had learned more about birds and animals from 
Uncle Si's homely talks than from the prosy 
Professor. 




BLUE JAY. 



One Sunday evening as the old negro sat tilted 
back against the chimney dozing in the sun Lit- 
tle Boy scrambled into his lap and gave him a 
vigorous shake. " There, now, Uncle Si, you've 
(54) 



OUT AMOXG THE AXIMALS. 00 

got to wake up! I've let you sleep a whole hour, 
and now I'm lonesome/' 

The old darky opened his eyes, stretched him- 
self, and yawned, saying: "Law, law, little 
mars! how you does harass dis po' ol' niggah! 
What yer wantin' dis time?" 

"I want you to tell me some about birds. 
Not old dry book-birds like the Professor's, but 
the nice funny sort that you know about." 

"Bless my soul!'' ejaculated the old man, 
pleased at the implied compliment, "dis heah 
am Sunday; 'tain't no time ter be projickin' wid 
birds." 

"O, pshaw!" said the little boy, "they are 
God's birds, and it's not a bit of harm to talk 
about them on Sunday. Mamma says so. Go 
'long, Uncle Si." 

The story-teller hesitated, for Uncle Si was 
sexton of the ' meetinghouse ' and a very pious 
old darky. But he finally said: "Well, chile, 
what I gwine to tell 'bout? I done tole 'bout 
de red-headed woodpecker an' de lonesome hoot 
owl, an' lots o' beastes. What yer wan' *er 
heah?" 

Just then a large bird sailed overhead and be- 
gan its shrill call to its mate: " Jay! jay! " 

"Yes, that's it!" cried Little Boy, clapping 
his hands. " Tell about the blue jay." 

"Well, honey, dere's a mighty heap ter tell 



56 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

'bout dat blue jay; but hit am mostly baid. He 
seems ter think when he perch on de lim' an' 
cock hes head ter one side, jes' t' show off dat 
topknot, dat kase he so big an 5 got er new blue 
coat on wid er white shutbosom an' er black 
neckercher, dat folks gwine t' put up wid what- 
someber capers he min' t' cut. I done heah de 
Puffesser say dat de blue jay am er 'Merican bird 
intirely, an' dat he's kinf oiks t' de crow. I spec' 
dat what make him so thievish, fur de crow am' 
de mos' thievishes' bird what libs. Stid o' tend- 
in' t' hes own bizness, he all de time gwine roun' 
suckin' aigs fur udder birds an' in all sorts o' 
debilment. Long time ergo dere was er blue jay 
what kep' tarrifyin' de birds in ol' Mas' yahd tel 
I jes pintedly coulden' stan' it. So I sez: Web- 
ber min', young man! I'll fix yer.' So I fix up 
er mighty fine lies' in er martin box what de 
birds done forsook, an' I gits me fo' nice pat- 
tridge aigs, an' when I lets out a litl' o' de in- 
side wid er pin I puts pizen in 'em all, an' lay 
'em back keerful in de lies'. De nex' mawnin' 
Mas' Blue Jay come prowlin' 'roun', an' he lite 
in an' suck 'em ebery one." 

"Did it kill 'im, Uncle Si? " asked Little Boy. 

"Kill 'im? Why, chile, he start t' fly 'way, 
when all uv er suddent he wheel erroun' an' flop 
down right at my feet, too ded t' skin! " 



THE TURKEY. 



Uncle Si was laid up with the "rheumatiz," 
and that fact seemed to cast a shade over the 
Christmas jollifications at Dawn Crest, Mr. 
Beaumont's home. The old darky was always 
general fireman at Christmastide, and at that fes- 
tive season it seemed that he could carry hickory 
logs which at any other time would have stag- 
gered him. He always said that when he got 
Christmas in his bones it "kinder spry de ol' 
nigger up." 

About noon on Christmas day Uncle Si lay in 
his bed groaning ruefully, when Fletcher entered 
the cabin carrying a 
silver tray covered 
with a snowy napkin. 
"Uncle Si, I believe 
you said you didn't 
like t u r hey. lam 
afraid there was no 
use in my bringing 
you any." 

"Now, chile, yer ~ : = 
better gway fum heah 
wid yo' foolishness; 
yer know berry well I am' nebber said nuffin' o' 

(57) 




THE TURKEY. 



58 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

de kin'. I is said dat I wouldn' swap off er good 
fat possum fer no tukkey, but dat am' sayin' 
nuffin' 'gin de tukkey when dere ain' no possum 
in de case. So yer mout ez well onkiver dat 
waiter," which Fletcher accordingly did, and 
Uncle Si forgot his "rheumatiz" as the odor of 
the turkey and celery and cranberry sauce as- 
cended his nostrils. 

" Did you know that all the Jirst turkeys came 
from America, Uncle Si?" 

"No, chile, I kant jes' zackly say ez I did. 
Howsomeebber, I mout er knowed hit, kase mos' 
ob de good t'ings staht in dis kentry. Dere's one 
t'ing I'd lak ter know — is tukkeys what yer eat 
named atter dat kentry what I heah yer readin' 
'bout? " 

" No, Uncle Si; it is thought that people called 
them turkeys because the sound they make is 
rather like the word 'turk,' 'turk,' 'turk.' 
Were there many wild turkeys here when you 
can first remember, Uncle Si?" 

"Yes 'ndeed, chile. I 'members how dem 
fine young gentermuns fum Richmon' use ter 
come out t' weun's plantation t' kill wil' ducks 
an' geeses an' tukkeys; an' dey'd kyar home dead 
loads ob 'em. But dey's mos'ly all kilt up 
now." 

"Yes. I never saw but one wild turkey in 
my life; but all the turkeys were once wild, un- 



OUT AMONG THE AXDIALS. 59 

til they were what we call ' domesticated.' One 
funny thing I saw in my natural history is that 
when this country was all wild and new the peo- 
ple over in the old countries called guinea fowls 
'turkeys.' I don't see how they could make that 
mistake, for I do not think they are at all alike. 
What kind of turkeys do you like best, Uncle 
Si?" 

"Law, chile, I doan kyer, so's dey's fat an' 
has plenty o' stuffin'. Dem big white tukkeys is 
pow'rful fine, an' dem yaller buff 'uns is hard t' 
beat, an' when yer see one o' dem bronge gob- 
blers spraid hes tail and strut jes' fo' Christmas 
yer'll say he am de boss. De good Lawd he 
done make all sawts o' folks, an' he done make 
all sawts o' beastes so's ebberbody kin be suited. 
But I will say when Sist' Mirny wuk on 'im, 
enny kin' o' tukkey's good 'nuff fer po' folks — 
an' I sholy am much erbleeged t' yer, little 
mas'er, fer dat fine dinner — 'pears lak hit kinder 
driv de rheumatiz 'way. An' tell ol' Miss effen 
she'll sen' dat boneset tea down ter-night I sholy 
will tak hit, an' thanky too." 



THE WREN. 

"Peah's lak dat oF wren ain't nebber gwine 
hatch out dem aigs," said Uncle Si as the moth- 
er bird flew off the nest, hidden away under the 
eaves of his low thatched cabin. The old darky 
eased himself up on his shuck-bottom chair and 




THE WREN. 

peeped cautiously into the nest, but was careful 
not to touch it, for he knew that most birds will 
leave their nest if they detect the smell of man's 
hand upon it. 

"De wren am a curus bird," mused Uncle Si. 

"Now what use dat litF tinesy creetur got fur 

dat great big nes 5 , an' what fur make 'er buiF 

anudder nes' so close t' hern? I nebber is jes' 

(60) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 61 

zackly und'stood why yer alius 6n' a empty lies' 
clost t' whah de oV wren keepin' house. Sum 
folks say dey's c cocks' nestes', but I'se 'zamined 
clost, an' I ain't nebber seed no he wrens in 'em 
yit. Howsomebber, I lubs de wren; hit am sech 
a fren'ly littl' passim, an' alius peahs lak hit's got 
so much bizness ter look atter. Dat 'minds me 
— I'd bettah be buggin' dem taters, stid o' stan- 
din' heah pryin' inter birds' nestes jes' lak any 
boy," and Uncle Si began to whistle " The Old- 
Time Religion" as he went contentedly off to 
right the enemies of his potato crop. 

Soon after, Fletcher and the Professor came 
along. It was vacation time, so Fletcher had 
no regular lessons, but he and the Professor 
walked about, studying Nature in her varying 
moods. Not seeing Uncle Si, they sat down on 
the porch to rest, and kept very still until the 
mother wren flew back upon her nest. But her 
mate perched near, as if to say: " If there is any 
trouble to come, I am the one to do the fighting." 

"What bird is that? " asked Fletcher. "Just 
look at its funny little short wings and its 
straight-up tail! It looks like a sparrow." 

"That," said the Professor, putting on his 
glasses, for he was very near-sighted, "that is 
the house wren." 

" Is it a good bird? " asked Fletcher. 

"lean hardly call it good," answered the 



62 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

Professor, "although it has a sweet, cheerful 
song and is very friendly. But the male is bold 
and something of a robber." 

"A robber?" exclaimed Fletcher with new in- 
terest, for he doted on robbers. 

"Yes; it will often drive other birds from their 
nests and take possession of them. I have seen 
it attack a cat, when it came too near the nest of 
its mate." 

"Do wrens love worms? " asked Fletcher as 
the male bird flew by with a wriggling earth- 
worm in its mouth. 

"Yes, indeed," said the Professor; "they love 
all kinds of worms and insects, and do much 
good to our gardens by destroying them." 

"Are there any other sort of wrens?" 

" Yes; there are many varieties of wrens, with 
differing habits. The house wren does not stay 
with us during the winter, but the golden- crested 
wren and the winter wren are not afraid of snow 
and ice. I have seen great numbers of them in 
the coldest countries where I have traveled; and 
I remember a fine wren pie which I ate for 
Christmas dinner on the very top of the Alps. 
Some other time I will tell you about the long- 
billed and the short-billed marsh wren, with its 
back streaked lengthwise. I see Uncle Si com- 
ing now, so we will deliver your father's mes- 
sage and be going." 



THE WHIPPOORWILL. 



Twilight was beginning to fall around Uncle 
Si's cabin; the chickens were going to roost in 
the trees behind the house, and the bullfrogs in 
the ponds were chanting their harsh "jug-er- 
rums " to their mates. 

Uncle Si sat on the doorstep trying by the 
uncertain light to finish a shuck mat on which 
he was working: " Bekase hit am a pity ter spile 
ernudder day wid de tail eend ob er job." 




THE WHIPPOORWILL. 



Fletcher sat cross-legged on a bench near by, 
watching him work. 

The old man was muttering, half to himself, 
half to the boy: "Yes, dat were er scurbv trick 

(63)' 



64 OUT AMONG THE AXIMALS. 

in suinbody t' pitch pizen meat t' my dawg. 1 
wouldn' tuken five dollahs fur Bounce. 'Peahs 
lak one ob de fambly's done kilt," and a tear 
trickled down on the shucks in Uncle Si's lap. 
"Effen I jes' could fin' who done hit, I'd" — 

The old man broke off suddenly and a startled 
look came into his face as a clear, piping note 
from out the currant bushes called: " Whippoor- 
will! whippoorwill!" 

Uncle Si began to whisper: " De Lawd am 
my shepherd," in such an awe-struck voice that 
Fletcher thought the old darky had surely seen 
a ghost or goblin. "What's the matter, Uncle 
Si ? " he questioned. i i Tou were j ust about to say 
what you would do if you could catch the one 
that poisoned Bounce." 

"Sh — ; doan yer pay no 'tention t' dat, honey; 
dis' oP niggah's kinder off en his kerzip t'-day, 
else he'd er nebber been er harbrin' dem weeked 
t' oughts! Doan yer heah dat whipperwill? Now, 
effen yer's got enny onkin' thoughts in yer min' 
dribe 'em out quick. Effen yer doan, dey gwine 
stay dere er yeah f um de time yer heah dat f us' 
whipperwill, an' tohment yo' ter def. I alluz 
tries t' hab good thawts when dat bird am er- 
roun'." 

" What does a whippoorwill look like, Uncle 
Si? I never did see one in daylight." 

" Yer ain't nebber gwine t', nuther, ef he can 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 65 

hep it, 'kase he hide out in de daytime, an' ten t' 
hes bizness uv er night. What do he look lak? 
Well, he am brownish an' reddish an' grayish an' 
blackish, all streakedy up tergedder lak' scram- 
bled aigs, teched up wid er littl' white collar 
roun' hes neck. He am erbout so long " — meas- 
uring about ten inches on a strip of shuck. " De 
whrpperwill am d4f on bugs; an' when he go 
scootin' erlong clc%e t' de groun' sort o' side 
swipin', I tell yer man, dem gnats an' sech 
better lite out! Did yer know dat sum folkses 
say de whipperwill suck de goat; an' quiense- 
contly one ob his names am goatsucker. But I 
done ax de Puff esser 'bout dat, an' he say dey doan' 
do no sech er ting. I low dat's one o' Mas' Jay 
Bird's lies. Now, den, I'se done dis mat, an' 
yer'd better run erlong home, lessen yo' maw'll 
be oneasy 'bout yer." 
5 



THE MARTIN. 



"Jes' lissen, will yer?" said Uncle Si as 
Fletcher paused in his walk to see the cause of 
the lively chatter which he heard in the new 
martin boxes he and Uncle Si had put up a few 
days before; "dere's dem debittable bluebirds 
tryin' t' whup de mahtins outen de boxes, an' I 




THE MARTIN. 



'low dey shan't do no sich er t'ing; dey druv 'em 
out las' year, an' time erbout am fair play. " So, 
by the vigorous use of chunks and sticks and yet 
(66) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 67 

more vigorous ' ' shooing " Uncle Si succeeded in 
putting the bluebirds to flight and leaving the 
martins masters of the situation. 

Thus left undisturbed by their ancient enemy, 
the martins flew in and out of their boxes with 
merry song and chatter. One particularly hand- 
some pair attracted Fletcher's attention, and he 
watched them with the greatest delight. 

The male was of a dark bluish, glossy purple, 
but his wings and forked tail were brownish 
black. The female was of a duller color, and 
not so handsome. As they flitted here and there 
hunting for bits of straw and grass for the nest, 
Uncle Si leaned upon his hoe handle and said: 
"Dere aint an udder bird, not eben ouh pij- 
gens, dat I is mo' fonder ob den de mahtins. 
Peahs lak dey's sorter human ennyhow. Stid o' 
rangin' way off somers, he ain't nebber happy les- 
sen he buil' hes nes' close t' whah folkses libs. 
But de mahtin ain de leas' bit uppitty in hes no- 
tions. Dat yeah when we all wuz in too big er 
hurry t' buil' de boxes dey settled down jes' ez 
peacerble ez could be in dem gouhds what we 
hung in de trees, and raise jes' ez decent er fam- 
bly ez ebber uz fotch up in de fines' mahtin box. 
Dey peahs t' lub erbody fuh dey self an' not fur 
what dey kin git outen 'em lak lots o' folkses." 

"Do you know what family of birds the mar- 
tin belongs to, Uncle Si?" 



68 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

"Law no, chile, I cain't be eberlastin 'zarnin 
inter de fanibly ob all de birds an' beastes in 
creation lak yo'sef and de Puffesser do. Hit's 
all I kin do t' became acquainted wid deysefs, 
let erlone all dere fambly. But I 'low in case 
de mahtin b'longs t' de inahtin fanibly, jes' lak 
de Beaumonts b'longs t' de Beaumont fambly." 

" K o, Uncle Si; the martin belongs to the Swal- 
low family, or as some people call them the Swifts. " 

"Dat sho' am er good name, 'case dem mahtins 
pintedly kin scoot when dey staht. An' dey 
ain' no lazy birds nudder, de berry fus' t'ing I 
heah in de mawnin', atter dat ol' rooster crow, am 
de mahtins chattin t' one anudder — dey keeps hit 
up ontel all de lazy folkses done had er chance 
t' git waked up. Many's de time my mammy's 
shuck me an' said: ' Git up, yer lazy nigger! doan' 
yer heah dem mahtins callin' yer ? ' " 

"Our bird is called the purple martin," said 
Fletcher, c ' but there are many others — there are 
some sort or other in all countries nearly, but 
they are not always called by the same name. They 
don't stay in the same place all the year; don't 
you remember what kind of bird it is that lives in 
one country in winter and another in summer?" 

The old darky scratched his head in perplex- 
ity a moment; and then said: "Xow, littl' Mas', 
yer knows berry well dem big names won't stick 
in dis ol' nigger's haid! Peah's lak de Puffesser 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 69 

doaii' put ernuff gum stickum on 'eni. Seenis t' 
me deui trabberlin' birds hab some sort o' 'tory" 
t' 'em, but jes' what sort o' tory hit wer' hit ud 
put me t 5 my stumps t' tell." 

"Maybe it was migratory, Uncle Si," suggest- 
ed Fletcher, who dearly loved to get a joke on 
the old negro. 

"Dat's jes' de berry tory, littl' mas'; I members 
hit now, migertory, dat's de birds dat hatter 
spen' dere wintahs in one place an' dere sum- 
mahs in anudder. Dey's pow'ful qualitified 
birds, dey is. But fur all dat dey ain' erbove 
eatin' all sawts o' bugs, an' fur dat reasin I lak 
t' hab de mahtins erroun'; hit am er gret hep in 
de gyardin'. Mor'ober, when yer hab er lot er 
mahtins 'bout, dey gwine 'r mak' hit libely fur 
de hawks an' de crows, which am sho'ly pests. 
Ez dey raises two broods in one seazin, an' ez de 
ol' lady feels lak she ain doin' no good douten 
she lays six aigs bef o' she 'gins t' set, she gits up 
er putty good fambly befo' de summalr s ober. 
Is dem udder mahtins lak dis un in buildin' 
dere nes'es clost t' folkses houses?" 

' ' Xot all of them. There is a sand martin that 
is very different from our house martin. It is 
smaller, is mouse-colored, and builds its nest in 
the side of a cliff. But you and I will not get 
these flowers planted if we stand here all day 
and talk about martins." 



THE ROBIN. 




These 

birds belong 
to the class 
of "early 
birds" that 
are supposed 
to "catch 



the robin. ^ certain 

lazy little girl remembers that when her father 
used to call, "Don't you hear the robin?" she 
would think with satisfaction that breakfast was 
far off, and would settle down for another nap. 

There are two kinds of birds called robin, but 
one of them is known as the redbreast, and 
is quite different from the large American robin. 
Robin redbreast is a great favorite in Great 
Britain and Canada, and is often seen in the 
United States. It is smaller in size than the 
regular robin, and has a bright reddish- orange 
breast. These lively birds frequently stay with 
us all winter, and the children delight to repay 
its cheery songs with a shower of crumbs. 

The American robin is nearly twice as large 
as robin redbreast. The top of its body is olive 
gray, the underpart brown, the sides of the head 
(70) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 71 

black with a white chin and throat. By nature 
it is a migratory bird; but in sheltered places it 
is found all winter, even in the North, while it 
rarely leaves the South for a warmer climate. 
It raises two broods a year. Sometimes it is 
tamed and caged, but it is usually left to enjoy 
its wild freedom. In some places robins are 
thought to be quite a delicacy for the table, and 
in the South, where they are plentiful, the mar- 
ket is sometimes glutted with them. 

The robin is a great insect- destroyer, but is 
by no means conscientious about stealing our 
small fruit. The race for the cherries is often a 
lively one between the small boy and the robin, 
with Sir Robin frequently ahead. 



THE DOVE. 

Emblem thou of peace and love, 
Bird of heaven, thou gentle dove. 

" What do you know about the dove?"I ques- 
tioned of a bevy of young people who were air- 
ing their attainments in natural history. 




THE DOVE. 

"The dove? Why, it is the bird that Noah 
sent out of the ark." 

And I dare say that this is the fact which most 
of us recall when this gentle bird is presented 
to our minds. 

Will it rob the dove of its time-honored halo 
if I tell you that it is, in exact language, a pi- 
(72) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. to 

geon? in other words, that it belongs to the class 
of birds — Cohimbm — all of which ornithologists 

treat as pigeons'? 

\Vho can forget that immortal picture that 
stands before us in living colors when we read 

o 

of the Spirit descending like a dove and light- 
ing upon him? For evermore must we feel 
that we have the divine sanction for reo-ardino; 
the dove as a type and symbol of purity and love. 

The turtle dove is the one which is most famil- 
iar and is the most tenderly loved in America. 
It is found also in Great Britain and Europe, 
but is less common than other varieties of which 
we shall presently speak. Being a migratory 
bird, it can rarely endure the rigors of our win- 
ter; but in mild seasons I have frequently heard 
its familiar "coo" long after Christmastide. 
Their meat is dark, but very palatable, and hunt- 
ers delight to i; bring them down*' during the 
winter season. Often have I listened to the 
plaintive cry of a love-lorn turtledove whose 
mate has been ruthlessly slain by some unfeel- 
ing Ximrod. and such "sport" has always seemed 
to me like the "murder of the innocents." 

The most common European dove is the ring- 
dove, or wood pigeon. This bird is found in 
vast numbers on the beautiful estates in En- 
gland, and has come to be regarded as a pest by 
the farmers on account of its depredations upon 



74 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

vegetation. As it raises several broods during 
the season, its increase is very rapid. This bird 
is larger than other doves, and is easily recog- 
nized by the white spot on either side of its neck, 
which forms an almost continuous "ring," 
whence its name. For a nest it places a slight 
platform of sticks on the bough of a tree, and 
lays thereon two eggs, which, as is the case with 
all doves, are white. 

The stockdove is smaller and darker colored 
than the ringdove, and breeds not in a nest on 
the bough, but loves to occupy rabbit burrows, 
or holes in the trunk of a tree. It is much less 
common than the ringdove, but is similar to it 
in habits. Another variety is the rockdove, 
which is lighter colored than the last mentioned, 
and has its wings barred with white. It haunts 
the rocky coasts of Europe, and is rarely seen 
inland. Ornithologists claim that this is the par- 
ent stock of our domestic pigeons. There are 
other interesting varieties, such as the Barbary 
or collared dove, which is sometimes seen in 
cages, and others, but space forbids their men- 
tion. 



THE SWAN. 

"As graceful as a swan" is an expression we 
have all heard, and one who has watched these 
beautiful aquatic fowls as they glide with such 
easy grace upon the shining water will never 
wonder why "the grace of the swan " has passed 




THE SWAN. 

into a truism. The swan belongs to the family 
called CygmiS) and seems to be halfway be- 
tween the duck and the goose. Its plumage 
is so soft, thick, and beautiful that a very fine 
sort of goods made of wool, silk, and cotton is 
known as "swan's-down." 

Swans are not hard to tame; and one sees them 
in a half-domesticated state in many places, both 
in Europe and the United States. Although 

(75) 



76 OUT AMOKG THE ANIMALS. 

naturally migratory in habit, they become as 
tame as ducks and geese under kind treatment, 
and seem to overcome their wild nature, which 
would prompt them to fly away to a warm cli- 
mate in the fall and to return in the spring to the 
cooler climates to rear their young. Doubtless 
many of our readers have seen the swans in 
the various public gardens, and have enjoyed 
scattering crumbs for them. Those who have 
done this will not need that I should tell them 
how a grown up swan looks. Its long, graceful 
neck, its snowy plumage, its red bill, its air of 
dignity and pride will never be forgotten by one 
who has seen them. But this swan, which is 
the one usually seen, is not white at first. Its 
first feathers are a dark, sooty brown, and the 
young birds are about a year old before they 
come out in their snowy plumage. 

There are two kinds of white swan. The one 
we usually see is mute, and does not seem to at- 
tempt any sort of musical sound. This swan has 
a red bill, while the other white swan is called 
the whistling swan or the whooper, and its bill 
is yellow. There is a belief among many peo- 
ple, and we often hear this belief expressed in 
poetry, that this whistling swan sings its most 
beautiful song when it is dying. We have all 
heard of "the last notes of the dying swan," 
but many prosaic people say that this is just a 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 77 

beautiful story told by poets and other imagina- 
tive people. 

This whistling swan is a native of Iceland, 
Russia, and other cold countries, and comes south- 
ward only when driven by the cold winters of 
his native land. But we have also a swan akin 
to the whistling swan in America, only we call 
it the trumpeter. Our swans are larger than 
those seen in Europe, even when they seem to 
belong to the same family. 

For a long time nobody had ever seen a black 
swan; but in 1697 some Dutch navigators dis- 
covered black swans in Australia, where they 
were found to be quite abundant. However, so 
great a curiosity could not be spared, and black 
swans, in a captive state, may be found all over 
the world. 



THE MAGPIE. 

Whex mother says, "Baby is a perfect mag- 
pie," she means that he is just such a bundle of 
meddling and mischief that he is always out of 
one trick into another. And this fondness of 
pilfering and mischief have wrought such pre j u- 
dice against the magpie that in Great Britain, 
where it was once a favorite, it is almost exter- 




THE MAGPIE. 

minated. It has a strange fondness for pilfering 
and hiding away any bright, shining object; and 
many stories are told of jewels, etc., which have 
been stolen by these birds. This propensity has, 
(78) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 79 

no doubt, caused many unjust suspicions to be 
cast upon the magpie, which does not appear to 
be so bad a bird as is supposed. 

It is a member of the crow family, and, in a 
state of freedom, is a beautiful and attractive 
bird, with its glossy black plumage and its long 
tail brilliant with glintings of purple, green, and 
bronze. After mating, the pairs continue to- 
gether all the year, living chiefly on small ani- 
mals. When not molested, this is a friendly 
bird and fond of the society of man. Their lively 
chatter and power to imitate words causes very 
talkative people to be sometimes called "mag- 
pies," especially when their talk has more sound 
than sense. 

It is said that even in Lapland the magpie is 
found pushing its way from one station to anoth- 
er as fast as the country is settled. Superstitious 
people regard it as "bad luck" when magpies 
present themselves, and the sight of a single 
"pie " is considered a sure forerunner of sorrow. 



GROSBEAKS. 

Fletcher had been reading James Lane Al- 
len's charming book, " The Kentucky Cardinal," 
and the grosbeaks were occupying his attention. 
The redbird was an old friend of his; but he 
knew it only as the redbird, and it seemed 
strange to hear it called the Cardinal Grosbeak. 

"I never heard of calling a redbird a gros- 
beak," he complained to his father. " They've 
gotten to putting all sorts of fancy names to 
everyday things till I don't know what to call 
anything. Now whoever heard of calling a plain 
redbird a grosbeak?" 

"If you would just think a moment, and 
brush up your French a bit, you would have no 
trouble with grosbeak. You put that prefix be- 
fore words every day of your life, and never 
think you are doing a very difficult thing. We 
put another s to the French word, and use it al- 
most every day. Only yesterday I heard you 
tell Aunt Mirny that she was getting real ' gross- 
looking.' You meant she was looking small and 
delicate, didn't you? " 

"Why, father, how ridiculous! You know I 
meant she was big and coarse-looking." 

"Well, then, what's a grosbeak? " asked Mr. 
Beaumont with a smile. 
(80) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 81 

" Why, father, how stupid I am!" exclaimed 
Fletcher, the light breaking over his face. "A 
grosbeak is bound to be a bird with a big strong 
bill, and that is just what the redbird has." 

Just then a beautiful bird alighted upon the 
cedar tree in front of the house, and uttered a 
loud whistling note as if to sav: " You are talk- 




THE GROSBEAK. 

ing about me. and here I am: now admire me all 
you wish." 

And indeed that was an easy thing to do. for, 

from his crimson breast to the jaunty crest upon 

his head, he was a very coxcomb among birds. 

The shading of black about him was just suffi- 

6 



82 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

cient to bring out the brilliance of his plumage. 
His beak was large and sharp and strong, as 
well it might be, for he used it in cracking cher- 
ry stones, the cones of pine, and other hard sub- 
stances upon which he lived. He has almost as 
many relations as the Smith family, and so dif- 
ferent from himself and from each other that it 
is hard to realize their kinship. Indeed, if a 
whole bevy of sparrows, and hawfinches, and 
others of the family had collected in Fletcher's 
trees and begun to call each other "cousin," I 
think he would have thought they were only jok- 
ing. But if he had looked at their bills, he would 
have found that they were really akin; for all 
these birds have very strong bills and can man- 
age with ease the hard seeds, etc., which 
they delight to eat. Really they all belong to 
the great big family of Fringillidw, or finches; 
and then, again, they are divided up into a great 
many subfamilies. But Southern children love 
the redbird best of all the grosbeaks, not only 
for his beautiful clothes — and who of us does not 
love beauty? — but also for his cheerful, happy 
disposition. Did you never sit looking listlessly 
out upon the snow-draped landscape and wonder 
if in all the snowy waste one speck of spring- 
time brightness could be seen? Then from out 
the depths of the laden cedars you have heard 
a low crooning call, gradually growing bolder 



OUT AMONG THE AXIMALS. 83 

until such a burst of gladness vibrated in the 
wintry air that all the sweet voices of spring 
seemed to awake. And when the song was ended, 
like a bit of glowing flame the redbird flitted out 
and the world was like a new place to you. 



THE QUAIL. 

When we speak of the quail we usually think 
of the partridge, or bobwhite, whose merry 
whistling call most of us have heard from in- 
fancy. But, while the partridge is a sort of 
quail, the quail is not a partridge. The quail 
never perches on trees, as the partridge does, 




THE QUAIL. 



but always lights upon the ground. The quail 
excels the partridge in power of flight. It has 
longer wings and a shorter bill, has no red space 

(84) 



OUT AMONG THE AMMALS. S5 

above the eyes, and no spur. The quail is found 
almost over the entire world, while the partridge 
is an American bird. The quail has reddish- 
brown feathers; and each feather is patched with 
darker brown, the cock being much brighter and 
handsomer than the hen. Like the partridge, 
the quail breeds upon the ground. Though a 
migratory bird, it often passes the winter in the 
United States and even Great Britain. America 
has fifty or sixty varieties of birds called quail, 
but the best known is our partridge, or bobwhite. 
Our partridge has been often taken to England: 
but it never thrived there, nor does the English 
quail do well in America. 

It is a strange fart that quails were never 
found among the Indians in the early days of 
this country; but whenever the white men came, 
quails swarmed about their camp as they did 
about the camp of the children of Israel. It is 
said that when an Indian found a quail they 
would all lament and cry. "The white man is 
coming, and we must give up our homes/' and 
so it always proved. 



THE PARROT. 

One day, as Uncle Si entered his cabin after 
rather a tiresome forenoon's work, some one un- 
der his bed cried angrily: "Get out! get out!" 
Whereat Uncle Si grew very angry and, gather- 
ing the broom, made a furious lunge at the in- 
truder under his bed. 

"Git out yo'sef, sah, effen yer wan 5 ennybod- 
dy t' git out. Hit's er putty pass w'en er decent 
Chu'ch member hatter be ordered outen he's own 
house by some unbeknownst whipper snapper. 
Git out, I say, effen yer doan' wan' t' be druv 
out. Sick 5 im, Trip," continued the old darky, 
when the intruder, all undaunted by the broom, 
failed to budge. Just then from under the bed 
came another fierce "Get out!" followed by a 
suspicious snicker. Uncle Si gave a grunt, got 
down on his knees, peeped under the bed, 
and got up again exclaiming: "'Pon my wo'd 
an' honnah, I bleeb hit's de 01' Boy! Sick 'im, 
Trip ! " But Trip refused to ' ' sick 'im. " 

Uncle Si took his ancient flintlock from the 
wall, saying: " I 'low w'en I draw a bead on yer 
wid dis weepun o' mine yer'll come out frum 
dere! " and Uncle Si would have fired if a laugh- 
ing voice had not called out: "Don't shoot, Un- 
(86) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 87 

cle Si, don't shoot; I've got something to show 
you,*' and Fletcher crawled out from under the 
bed, with something bright in his arms. 

Uncle Si held up his hands in horror. "Law, 
chile, yer hadn't orter play sich pranks. Yer 
mout er been kilt! Effen I'd er lammed erway at 
yer, dere ain' no tellin' de damage I mout er 
done." 

But Fletcher only laughed, for he thought he 



THE PARROT. 

had very little to fear from Uncle Si's marksman- 
ship. 

"Why, Uncle Si, I came in to show you my 
beautiful birthday present. Tony just brought 
it from the express office. How do you like its 
voice?" and Fletcher held up a beautiful green 
parrot for Uncle Si's inspection. 



88 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

"I haint nuffin' tall ergin he's woice, littl' 
mas'; but de langwidge dat he use mout be mo' 
civiller," replied Uncle Si. " But he sho'ly am 
er hansum bird. My! but dem green an' red fed- 
ders am lubly. Whah he come turn, littP nias' ?" 

"He came all the way from the forests of a 
country called Brazil; but Uncle Stuart found 
him in New York, where he had been taken to 
be taught to talk." 

"Do dem birds hatter be eddicated befo' dey 
kin talk? I 'lowed dey jes' talked nachel." 

"O no; they must be taught words, of course; 
for when they are first caught they have never 
heard any language but bird language, and we 
could not understand that." 

"Is all dem parrots lak dat un?" asked Uncle 
Si looking curiously at the bird; for it was the 
first parrot he had ever seen. 

"No, Uncle Si; this is a green Brazilian par- 
rot, and it was caught on the banks of a river 
called the Amazon. Then there is a smaller 
gray parrot that comes from Africa. That's 
your country, you know." 

" I dunno' nuffin' 'tall o' de sawt. 01' Firgin- 
ny 's my kentry, an' I ain' gwine be pushed off 
on no udder/' said Uncle Si, still true to his col- 
ors. 

"Well, Africa is the country where your 
grandfather came from, you won't deny that. 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 89 

But there are a great many birds that belong to 
the parrot family that are not exactly parrots. 
There are parrokeets, macaws, cockatoos, and 
lories; but they are all more or less like the true 
parrots. The largest of all of these is the great 
macaw. It is three feet long and is not a smart 
bird like the regular parrot. But all the birds 
of this family are lively and sociable. They don't 
go off to themselves to build their nests, but 
great crowds of them collect in the woods and 
have a regular bird town. They say that it is a 
funny thing to hear them screaming and chatter- 
ing with each other. Of course they can't talk 
like my bird does until they are taught. Some- 
times parrots live to be nearly a hundred years 
old." 

" Dat alluz is seem er queer t'ing t' me, de idy 
o' dem critters talkin' lak f olkses. Do yer reck- 
in' dey's got souls?" 

"Not unless all birds have souls, Uncle Si. 
But I am like you in thinking it a very strange 
and wonderful thing for a bird to talk. Come 
on, Polly, let's go to the house and get a crack- 
er. " At the word ' ' cracker, " Polly raised such a 
hue and cry, screaming, -' Polly wants a crack- 
er," that Uncle Si was glad to see her depart. 



THE SNAKEBIRD. 



"So yer's tyerd o' talkin' 'bout bugs an' 
creepy t'ings, is yer, littl' mas', and say yer'd 
lak t' tek inter considdration de fowels o' de air? 




THE SNAKE BIRD. 

Hab yer enny berry speshal favorites dat yo'd 
laktf'scuss?" 

"I think we have discussed most of my favor- 
ites, Uncle Si," said Fletcher, seating himself 
leisurely on the " post-and-rail " fence in front 
of Uncle Si's cabin. "But I do want to find 
out something about the snakebird. Have you 
ever seen one?" 
(90) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 91 

"Dat I has, litT mas'!" exclaimed the old 
man, delighted at an opportunity to air his su- 
perior knowledge. "I ain' neber seed nary un 
in ol' Firginny, nur yit in Tennessee, dough 
I ain' sayin' dey mouten be foun' at dem p'ints. 
Whah I fus' tuk nodis ob 'em wer' down in 
Loosianner an' Floridy dat winter your paw 
went down dere runnin' from de 'brown creet- 
urs.'" 

"The what, Uncle Si?" queried Fletcher with 
a smile. 

"De 'brown creeturs.' I 'lows dey's er sawt 
o' bug dat gits in yo' f roat an' mek yo' bark de 
whole indurin' winter." 

"O!" said Fletcher. "I understand. You 
mean bronchitis. Well, what about the snake- 
bird? Why do they call it stiakebivd? Does it 
eat snakes?" 

"No, chile, no 'ndeed! Dey call hit snake- 
bird bekase wid dat long slim neck and haid hit 
look fur all de worl' lak er snake risin' outen de 
watah." 

"Rising out of the water?" Fletcher exclaimed. 
"What is a bird doing in the water?" 

"Er ketchin' fish; dat's what dis bird am er 
doin'. Dis am one o' dem birds what libs clost 
t' de watah an' mek's dere libin' by fishin'. Dey 
builds dere nes' in some ol' snag hangin' ober de 
watah, an' de ol' uns t'inks deys got er sof job. 



92 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

I'se watched 'em menny er time. Dey sets on 
er lim' ez still ez def, tell suddenly dey scoots 
down inter de watah; an' in a few minnits up 
dey comes pokin' dat snaky haid out ez dey 
wades eroun', an' jes' how menny fish goes down 
dat bird's froat indurin' dem few minnits, I ain' 
gwiner try t' say. I 'member hearin' ol' mas' 
say dat he gin one dat he had in er tank fish 
a'ter fish ontel he done et six, an' he 'lowed he'd 
stop befo' de critter kill hisself." 

"What sort of looking bird is it, Uncle Si?" 
"Why, hit am er beauty; dat's what it am. 
Hit wears er fine coat of black wid greenish 
teches here an' dere; den down de sides o' de 
neck runs a row ob white f edders sort o' tiffled 
off with laylock [lilac]. De wings is sort o' 
whitish, edged off wid black an' brownish bands 
an' red an' gray. He's a dandy for looks, am 
Mr. Snakebird; but his mate am not quite so 
gay in her dress, dough she am a berry neat- 
lookin' fowel." And with this Uncle Si went 
into the cabin to see if those potatoes he was 
roasting in the ashes were done. 



THE NIGHTINGALE. 



The nightingale has so long been recognized 
as the queen of song that when we say of a per- 
son, "She is a veritable nightingale," we feel 
that we can pay no higher compliment to her 




THE NIGHTINGALE. 



musical powers. The name of this bird we have 
taken almost literally from the Anglo-Saxon 
nihtegale, which means a "singer of the night. 

This beautiful singer is a native of Europe, 
Asia, and the north of Africa. It is also found 
in portions of England, but it is not seen in Ire- 
land. Being a bird of passage, it is found in the 

(93) 



94 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

colder climes only during the nesting season, 
when its pours forth an ecstasy of song at in- 
tervals during the night. With touching fore- 
thought the male birds reach their summer home 
ten or fifteen days in advance of the females. 
It is at this time that they are usually caught. 
Before mating they are easily tamed, and soon 
become reconciled to captivity; but after they 
are paired they pine away and die if taken from 
their mates. 

In proof that appearances are not to be relied 
upon, the nightingale is a modest-looking little 
bird about the size of the hedge sparrow. In 
its sober brown coat, alike in both sexes, one 
would never suspect it to be the silver-throated 
songster of which poets in every age have sung, 
but whose Heaven-taught notes are sweeter than 
poet or minstrel's song. 



THE OWL. 



The nightingale and the owl have nothing in 
common save that they are both birds whose ac- 
tivities begin with the shades of the evening. 




THE OWL. 



But while the nightingale is pouring out his of- 
fering of song the owl is prowling around our 
henroost in the hope that he may lay hold on 
some unwary Biddy and make a meal of her. 

(95) 



96 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

Owl is the English name for nearly two hun- 
dred nocturnal birds of prey, seventeen of which 
are found in North America, while there is 
scarce a climate or a country in which some va- 
rieties are not abundant. 

They vary in size, but are all distinguished by 
the short, heavy body, and the great staring, ex- 
pressionless eyes. The universal brown color 
has tints of red and gray and sometimes white. 

Owls delight to dwell in the somber gloom of 
dense forests, or in some deserted dwelling, 
where only their lugubrious, wailing cry is 
heard. Whether it is this weird cry or their 
lonely, unsocial habits, I know not, but among 
all peoples owls are regarded as birds of evil 
omen. I have seen men who would not shrink 
from shot or shell turn pale with horror at the 
sound of a harmless owl's mournful call, as if 
assured of some impending evil. 

But the ancient Greeks do not seem to have 
shared in this feeling, as the owl was by them 
honored as the bird of wisdom. One who has 
watched the witless capers of this stupid bird 
must wonder how it could ever be associated 
with the idea of wisdom. 



TITE WOODPECKER. 



"What yer dribin' at up dere, makin' all dat 
racket an' \sturbin' de res' ob yo' bettahs?" said 




THE WOODPECKER. 



Uncle Si one sultry July afternoon as he reluc- 
tant! v opened his eyes and looked up into the 
* 7 (97) 



98 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

tree beneath which he was trying to take a nap. 
There just above him, clinging to the body of 
the tree, he espied a bright-hued bird, with its 
bars and spangles of black and green and yellow 
and its cap of red. 

" Yes'm," said the old negro, his face regain- 
ing its wonted smile. "I 'low dat mus' be yer 
when I fus' hear dat Hap, tap, tap. 5 Now I 
hain't no dejection t' yer runnin' yer bizness in 
dat apple o' mine, case I'se boun' t' say dem ap- 
ples been heap bettah sence yer tuk up in dat 
tree and 'stroy de insecks on hit. I'se alluz 
willin' t' gib de debil hes jhu, but yer mout 
'range yo' bizness sose not t' 'inflick wid dis ol' 
nigger's skejule. Dat's all. But ez yer is done 
busted up my nap, I mout ez well g'long an' git 
dem fish fur supper," and the old man went into 
his cabin to get his fishing pole, and the wood- 
pecker went on with his "tap, tap," without 
heeding the interruption. 

He was not making all that noise without a 
purpose, for he knew that the insects on which 
he lives were lurking in the bark of that tree. 
He is not only beautiful, with his bright feath- 
ers and red cap, but the woodpecker is one of 
the most useful of birds. He destroys myriads 
of insects which would do great damage to our 
trees. There are more than three hundred kinds 
of woodpeckers, and more than half of them are 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 99 

found in North America; but in Great Britain 
there are only four varieties. These pretty birds 
are most plentiful in warm climates, where they 
do great good by destroying insects. When a 
nest is needed, instead of building it upon the 
leafy bough, with his sharp beak the wood- 
pecker pierces a round hole to the very heart of 
the tree, and then works downward for a foot or 
two, where the eggs are laid. No grass nor 
straw is used in this strange nest. 

A very interesting variety is the California 
woodpecker. These birds peck holes in the 
trees, and in these holes acorns and sometimes 
pebbles are fastened. As these birds migrate in 
winter, no one has ever been able to guess why 
these acorns are thus stored away. 

The "redheaded woodpecker" and the golden- 
winged (sometimes called "yellow hammer") 
are the most commonly seen in Tennessee, and 
are familiar to all country children. 
LofC. 



THE SNOWBIRD. 

It was a dreary winter day, and Fletcher was 
confined within doors by a sore throat. The 
earth had on its beautiful white mantle, and 




THE SNOWBIRD. 

when Fletcher thought of the rabbits that had 
flecked the fields with their three-cornered tracks 
and of his precious ' ' traps " for birds down in the 
meadow, he thought that his lot was hard in- 
deed. As he stood with a frowning face and 
drummed upon the windowpane, a little bird 
(100) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 101 

fluttered clown from the snow-covered cedar tree 
and alighted upon the window sill. 

"There's my snowbird!" he exclaimed with 
delight. I have not seen him before this win- 
ter." 

He ran to the dining room and came back 
with a handful of crumbs which he scattered on 
the window sill. The little bird gave a cheer- 
ful chirp, as if to say: "I am much obliged to 
you. I knew you would not forget me." He 
was a small, slate-colored fellow with a white 
breast. In summer he had a very merry song, 
but now it had dwindled to a mere chirp. But 
it was a cheerful sound, and it made Fletcher 
forget his troubles. 

"See if he still wears his red string," sug- 
gested Fletcher's mother. 

"Yes, there it is!" cried Fletcher in delight. 
"I was so afraid he would lose it." 

The bird fluttered around merrily as on pur- 
pose to show the bit of red twine around his 
leg in token of his remembrance of past kind- 
ness. The winter before, this little bird had 
been wounded by some cruel boy, and Fletcher 
had found him almost frozen and unable to fly. 
He had brought the poor thing into the house 
and tenderly nursed him until he was able to fly 
about the room; then he tied the red string around 
his leg and opened the window. The bird looked 



102 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

out into the big free world, and waited a mo- 
ment as if he felt that it would be unkind to fly 
away and leave the friends who had been so good 
to him. Then Fletcher lifted him very tenderly 
and set him on the window sill, saying: "Go, 
little bird! I would love to keep you, but I 
know our cozy room would be a dreadful prison 
to you, for God has made you to be free. You 
love the cold, snowy world better than my good 
warm fire. So fly away, and when you need a 
friend come back to me." 

And now, after a whole year had passed, the 
little fellow had returned, showing that love 
and kindness are not forgotten even by a bird. 
He had made his winter home in a haystack near 
Mr. Beaumont's house; and now, when he could 
not find even a few dried berries on the hack- 
berry tree, he had come back to the window just 
when Fletcher needed something to draw his 
mind away from himself. He hopped about on 
the window sill picking up the crumbs, and all 
the time singing his grateful little song. When 
he had eaten all he wanted he looked up to 
Fletcher as if to say, "Thank you; I will come 
back when I get hungry," and flitted away into 
the snow. But he had made Fletcher forget his 
sore throat, and he got his natural history and 
found out a good deal about snowbirds. He 
discovered that, besides his little friend, the 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 1 03 

North American slate- colored snowbird, there 
is another similar bird called the snow bunting. 
Its tail and wings are partly white, varied with 
a rich brown, but the rest of its feathers are pure 
white. This bird abounds in all parts of the arc- 
tic regions in summer, but in the winter it is seen 
in the southern parts of Xorth America, Europe, 
and Asia. In Lapland, two thousand feet above 
the level of the sea, this hardy bird is the only 
living creature seen. 




THE HUMMING BIKD. 



(104) 



THE HUMMING BIRD. 

This beautiful, gemlike creature that flits 
from flower to flower with such airy grace is 
found only in America and its islands. Its bril- 
liant colors defy description, for there is scarce 
a shade or a tint but is found in its plumage. 
Most persons think that the humming bird, like 
the bee, lives upon the honeyed sweetness of 
flowers, and the peculiar manner in which it dips 
its head into the heart of the flowers encourages 
this idea ; but ornithologists tell us that the 
humming bird is not in quest of honey from the 
flowers, but feeds upon the insects hidden in 
their leaves. 

One who has observed these birds closely will 
doubtless have noticed the buzzing sound made 
by the swift vibrations of their wings, and it is 
thus they gained the name humming bird. 

(105) 



CANARIES. 

The bright-hued canary with which we are 
familiar is very different from the canary in its 




THE CANARY. 

wild state. These birds first came from Madei- 
ra and the Canary Islands. In its wild state 
the canary lacks the brilliant plumage to which 
we are accustomed, but has a coat of brownish 
gray. These sweet singers were brought to 
Europe in the sixteenth century, but have been 
much improved since then. The song of the 
(106) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 107 

wild bird is louder and clearer, but that of the 
tame canary is sweeter and more melodious. In 
the Tyrol many people employ themselves in 
rearing canaries, and it is said that their birds are 
the finest singers in the world. 

Bird students claim that in their native state 
the female chooses her mate for the sweetness of 
his song, and that sometimes the male will sing 
with such fervor that he bursts his delicate throat 
and dies. 

People who make a business of rearing cana- 
ries place them in a dark room where a night- 
ingale is singing, and they soon learn to catch 
its song. Where great pains are taken canaries 
will sometimes learn to carry a tune, or even to 
speak a few words. 



THE ORIOLE. 



"No, chile, I cain't gib no skyentifical pints 
'bout de oriole. Dis oP niggah's haid peah to be 
gittin kinder addled dese days. Go ax yo' paw; 




THE ORIOLE. 



he's ez high larnt ez de Perfessor when hit com' 
t' birds. Go ax him, and lemme hill up dis 
cel'ry." So away went Fletcher, and this is what 
his father, who knew all about birds, told him: 
"Ornithologists claim that there is only one 
bird properly called the oriole, and that the va- 
rious bright-hued birds of America which we 
(108) 



OTT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 109 

call orioles are not orioles at all. The real 
European oriole is, on account of its color, 
called the ' golden oriole.' This is a beautiful 
and fascinating bird, and a great favorite in 
Europe. It has a sweet, flutelike song which 
sounds so much like the human voice that the 
Italian peasants believe the oriole speaks their 
language. It is fond of insects, especially such 
as live upon fruit trees, but is such a timid bird 
that it hesitates to approach the abode of man. 
When it determines to make a raid upon the in- 
sects of an orchard it puts out sentinels who 
give the alarm when the enemy, man, ap- 
proaches. 

''The bird nourishes best in a warm climate, 
and is found in great numbers in Italy and 
other countries of Southern Europe. But, as 
we love our country and our own birds best, we 
will leave the European oriole, and come to our 
own birds of that name. Whether they are 
orioles in the books or not, they are orioles to 
us, and such we shall continue to call them. 
There is the bullock oriole, of the Pacific 
Coast ; the orchard oriole, of the Eastern 
States; the hooded and Scott's oriole, of Texas 
and Arizona. But the one which our Southern 
young people know and love best is our beauti- 
ful Baltimore oriole. This is sometimes called 
the golden robin or fiery hangbird, and is ad- 
8 



110 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

mired both for its brilliant plumage and ex- 
quisite song. 

" When a child I used to wonder if this bird 
came from the city of Baltimore, and was on 
that account called the 'Baltimore' oriole. 
When I was older I learned that it gained its 
name from its brilliant coat of black and gold. 
Black and yellow being the chief colors in 
Lord Baltimore's coat of arms, this brilliant 
songster was named in his honor, as was also 
the city which bears his name. 

"In summer the oriole is found from Florida 
to New Brunswick, but in winter it leaves for a 
warmer climate. It closely resembles the weav- 
ing birds of Asia and Africa, but is even more 
skillful in the construction of its nest. The 
long, pouch- shaped nest is woven and interwo- 
ven with flaxlike plants, and is hung from the 
very extremity of the branch. This oriole is a 
most devoted parent, and will protect her young 
with her life. Often when the branch on which 
the nest hangs is cut from the tree the mother 
bird will return to the nest and sit there until, 
out of pity, some one will carry her and her 
young into the house. 

"Orioles are readily tamed, and do not pine 
in captivity like most free birds. They seem to 
become attached to their captors, and will not 
leave even when given full liberty of the house." 



THE SPARROW. 

"It seems but fitting," began the Professor, 
"that our little talks about our feathered friends 
should include this bird, for it has been conse- 





f // 1 




THE SPARROW. 

crated by the Saviour's mention and the prom- 
ise of his tender care, for has he not said: 'Not 
one of them is forgotten before God?' 

"The name c sparrow' was originally applied 
to nearly all small birds; and it may surprise 
you to know that many of the birds which we 
call sparrows are not sparrows at all, but most 
of them belong to the family of finches. They 
are of great variety, and have little in common 

cm) 



112 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

with their warlike cousin, the English sparrow, 
of which we shall presently speak. 

"Besides the many little birds improperly 
called sparrows, there are many varieties which 
belong to the true sparrow family. But the 
four principal kinds are: The English or house 
sparrow, the hedge sparrow, the tree sparrow, 
the reed sparrow. The last three varieties are 
found in America, but are rare as compared to 
the big, burly, contentious English sparrow, 
which is so familiar to us all that it needs no 
description. These sparrows were brought 
from England to this country about 1850, in the 
hope that they would destroy the caterpillars 
which ravaged the crops. They did indeed de- 
stroy the caterpillars, but when they had finished 
them they went to work upon the crops, and did 
more damage than the caterpillars. They are, 
you know, great warriors, and have done much 
harm by driving away our native birds, such as 
orioles, wrens, bluebirds, etc. One who has 
reached middle age will remember that the trees 
about our homes used to be vocal with the songs 
of our native birds, but now we look almost in 
vain for their bright plumage, and their happy 
songs are hushed. The belligerent catbird seems 
alone to have held his ground, and still comes 
to steal our grapes and cherries and to divert us 
with his mischievous ways. 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 113 

" The English sparrow loves to build its nest 
in a hole of a wall, though sometimes its rude, 
dome-shaped nest hangs high in a tree. They 
raise from four to six broods each season, so 
that it is not strange that thirty-six years after 
they were brought to this country they hadj 
spread from Maine to California. They do so) 
much harm to seeds, fruit germs, etc., that 
many efforts have beeu made to keep them in 
check. Ohio offers a premium for killing them, 
and in New York it is a misdemeanor to feed or 
shelter them. The farmers claim that only the 
young in their nest, and for one week after leav- 
ing it, feed upon insects, and then they join the 
adult birds in their raids upon the crops. In 
England 'sparrow clubs' are formed to aid in 
their destruction. 

"They seem to thrive in any climate, as they 
are found in Africa, India, and even in the fro- 
zen land of Siberia. They appear to follow 
man, as they are never found in uninhabited 
countries. So great is their fondness for the 
haunts of man that our towns and cities are full 
of them; yet here, as in the country, they do 
more harm than good. 

"Their flesh is good for food, but they are so 
small and troublesome to dress that they are 
rarely eaten in America. However, the French 
kill them in great numbers for food," 
8 



THE OSTRICH. 



Christmas was so near at hand that the Pro- 
fessor found it a hard matter to fasten Fletcher's 




THE OSTRICH. 

attention to his school duties. The boys of the 
neighborhhod were organizing a mammoth hunt- 
ing expedition for Christmas week, and such 
talks of powder and caps and bullets had not 
been since the war. Such burnishing of guns 
and overhauling of game bags was enough to 
(114) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 115 

make one think that Ximrod, the mighty hunter, 
had come back to earth. So the Professor tried 
to select the most interesting animals he could 
find; and, as Fletcher had often expressed cu- 
riosity about the ostrich, he concluded to study 
up a little on that subject. Fletcher had often 
seen the ostrich; had admired its beautiful plum- 
age and its majestic appearance. 

"You are so familiar with the appearance of 
the ostrich that it is hardly worth while to say 
much about that," said the Professor. "Most 
of the ostriches found to-day come from Africa, 
though occasionally they are seen in Persia, As- 
syria, and most Oriental countries. We all know 
that they require a warm climate; their habits 
are such as would forbid them to thrive in a cold 
climate. In Southern Africa sometimes a com- 
pany of nearly fifty will be seen together, asso- 
ciating with antelopes or zebras; but usually 
each cock forms a company of four or five hens, 
and this little harem remains together during 
the breeding season. The male ostrich is cer- 
tainly a most chivalrous bird. His hens all lay 
their eggs in the same nest, and this nest is al- 
ways on the ground. With their feet they hol- 
low out a nest in the warm sand, and here the 
eggs are laid. As soon as a dozen or so ac- 
cumulate the cock begins to brood. At night 
he sits on the eggs, and during the day the hens 



116 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

relieve each other. It is thought that the os- 
trich sits over the eggs more to protect them 
from jackals and other enemies than to hatch 
out the young, as this has often been known to 
be done by the sun alone. The hens lay about 
thirty eggs in the nest, and then all around it 
they deposit as many more." 

"What is that for?" asked Fletcher, very 
much interested. 

"Careful observers say that these loose eggs 
are left there until the brood begins to hatch, 
and then are broken by the old birds for the 
young. This looks reasonable, as the small os- 
triches could not subsist on such hard food as 
their parents find in the arid districts where os- 
triches usually dwell. The ostrich is a wonder- 
fully fond parent, and will guard its young with 
the utmost care. 

"Why does it stay in such desolate places? 
Why 'doesn't it hunt the best parts of the coun- 
try?" inquired Fletcher. 

"Because the ostrich loves solitude more than 
anything else. There are so many animals of 
prey that feed upon its eggs and its young that 
it seems to feel that its only safety lies in keep- 
ing apart from these. And of man it wisely 
stands in terror, and is so fleet-footed that the 
swiftest horse stands but little show in a fair 
race. Ostrich feathers are in such demand and 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. HT 

bring such good prices that many ostrich farms 
have been established in Cape Colony and other 
places. Here the ostriches are kept in confine- 
ment and reared just as we rear other fowls. 
At regular intervals their plumage is taken from 
them just as you have seen Uncle Si pick your 
mother's geese. Of course the feathers grow 
back again. When you remember that a male 
ostrich is often nearly eight feet high and weighs 
three hundred pounds, it would seem that this 
ought to be a profitable business. 

"Can ostriches fly, Professor?" 

"No; their wings are too short for that, but 
their feet carry them over the ground so fast 
that I should think they would scarcely care to 

fly-" 



THE LARK. 



Who does not recall the childish ditty: 

The lark is up to meet the sun, 
The bee is on the wing? 

The very word "lark" brings to us a sense of 
freshness and vernal beauty. There are over 







THE LARK. 

one hundred varieties of larks; but to an Eng- 
lishman the word will always mean the merry, 
warbling skylark, the darling of all the poets, 
and beloved of all with a heart for true melody. 
Unlike most birds, the skylark seems to in- 
crease in proportion as a country becomes more 
(118) 



OUT AMONG THE AXIMALS. 119 

highly cultivated, and, instead of fearing the ap- 
proach of man, the skylark seems to cling to 
him as a friend and protector. On those vast 
and beautiful estates in England, which are like 
one ever-lengthening garden, it is said that innu- 
merable hosts of skylarks till the air with their 
"gladsome and heart- lifting notes." They 
usually nest among the growing corn, which 
protects the young until they are able to take 
care of themselves ; and this they do quite 
young. 

The skylark is gentle and easily tamed, and 
even when caged pours forth its notes at all 
times, save in the molting season. Being a mi- 
gratory bird, on the approach of cold weather it 
plumes its night for a warmer climate; and as it 
passes through Great Britain on its way to the 
tropics thousands are trapped and sold for food 
in the London market. The skylark is found in 
nearly all the countries of Europe, but England 
is its favorite home. 

The wood lark, another European bird, is a 
good singer, but its notes are neither so rich nor 
so varied as those of the skylark. It is more 
delicate, and does not thrive in captivity, al- 
though it is often tamed. 

Ornithologists tell us that there is only one 
genuine lark in America — that is, native to this 
country. This bird in Europe is known as the 



120 * OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

shore lark, and in England it is called the bell- 
bird, because of its melodious call. It too is 
migratory. So we must give up our meadow 
lark, tree lark, titlark, and other larks; or, if 
we still cling to them, we must remember that, 
like the bogus colonel, they are not really larks, 
but belong to other species. 



THE FLAMINGO. 

"What a queer bird, and what a queer name!" 
exclaimed Fletcher. "What does flamingo 



mean : 



9>5 



"This interesting water bird," answered the 
Professor, "gains its name from the flame-col- 
ored patch upon its wings, and when hundreds 




THE FLAMINGO. 

of them are seen together in marshes or upon 
river banks in Asia and Africa they form a spec- 
tacle of wonderful beauty. In the old world 
four species of flamingo are found, and four in 
the new world. They are most common along 
the borders of the Mediterranean Sea. They 
are birds of powerful wing, and when journey- 

(121) 



122 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



ing they fly either in strings or in wedge-shaped 
flocks like geese. 

The flamingo belongs to the family of waders, 
and seeks its food in the water. When feeding 
it keeps its feet in almost perpetual motion, as 
if stirring the mud. The peculiar manner in 
which flamingos perform the duty of "sit- 
ting" is so well described by an old writer that 
I will read it to you: 'They build their nests in 
shallow ponds where there is much mud, which 
they scrape together in little hillocks like small 
islands, appearing out of the water a foot and a 
half from the bottom. They make the founda- 
tion on these hillocks broad, bringing them up ta- 
pering to the top, where they leave a small hol- 
low pit to lay their eggs in. And when they 
either lay their eggs or hatch them, they stand 
all the while — not on the hillock, but close be- 
side it — with their legs on the ground and in the 
water, resting themselves against the hillock 
and covering the hollow nest upon it.'" 



THE PETREL. 



While we all know that the petrel is an aquat- 
ic bird, how many of us know what its name 
signifies? When I tell you that petrel is a di- 
minutive of Peter, and that these birds are called 
"•sea runners/' you will see at once "they are 




THE PETKEL. 

called petrels because, like Peter, they walk 
upon the water." 

There are over a hundred varieties of petrel, 
and some member of the family is to be found 

(123) 



124 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

throughout all the seas and oceans of the world; 
but they are most abundant in the Southern Ocean. 
Of the one hundred varieties, that oftenest found 
in the North Atlantic is known as the stormy pe- 
trel. By sailors these little birds, that look like 
common swallows, are known as "Mother Ca- 
rey^ chickens," and their appearance is consid- 
ered an unfailing harbinger of foul weather. 
They skim over the surface of the water with an 
ease and grace that fill the landlubber with won- 
dering admiration. Some of the species never 
come to land except in the nesting season. 
Like so many aquatic birds, the hen lays but 
one egg, and leaves her nest only during the 
night. 

A peculiarity of the petrel is that its stomach 
is filled with an oil which oozes from its mouth 
and nostrils when the bird is wounded. This 
oil is a valuable article of commerce. 



THE EAGLE. 

The Professor and Fletcher had come to the 
Falconidim among the bird families, and, as a 
wide-awake young American, Fletcher took a 
lively interest in the bird which is our country's 
proud emblem, the type and symbol of our aspir- 
ing young republic. So the pupil and the teach- 
er were on the very best of terms and ready to 
give and to receive instruction. 

"As the lion is among beasts, so is the eagle 
among birds," began the Professor. fc 'When 
we speak of the eagle, our imagination pictures 
something noble and aspiring, something worthy 
to be called 'the king of birds.' We find the 
eagle in all parts of the world, and in all cases 
it is accounted as lord of the feathered tribe, 
and an emblem of power." 

"How many kinds of eagles are there?" 
asked Fletcher. 

"There are eight or ten different varieties, 
but the principal kinds are the bald eagle, sea 
eagle, and mountain eagle." 

"Let's have the bald eagle first," insisted 
Fletcher, like the true American that he was. 

"You know how he looks," said the Professor; 
"his dark plumage, white head, neck, and tail 
are familiar to us all." 

(125) 




EAGLE. 



126 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 127 

"He looks as if he knew a great deal and felt 
that he was king of the birds, doesn't he? " asked 
Fletcher, as he gazed at the picture of this pow- 
erful bird. " Look at his strong, sharp claws, and 




THE EAGLE. 



his hooked bill. I should not like to be caught by 
them. He must be at least three feet long. ,, 

"Yes, these eagles are often forty inches long 
and eight feet from tip to tip of wing. They 



128 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

love to breed near a river in a lofty tree; and, 
unlike most birds, the same nest is used year 
after year, the bird only retouching it by adding 
a few sticks and branches. It is by no means 
choice as to its food, but will consume a lamb, a 
duck, or goose, and even a small child with 
equal relish. Well do I remember the story of 
an old lady who lived near the Tennessee river 
in early days. She was down by the river bank 
washing, and her baby was crawling about on 
the white sand. Before she could realize what 
was happening, an immense bald eagle swooped 
down and carried away her little one." 

"Did she never get it back?" asked Fletcher, 
his eyes filling with tears. 

"Never. Not even a trace of it could be found. 
Doubtless the eagle carried it to its nest — or aerie, 
as it is called — and there devoured it. Now we 
come to the sea eagle. In its habits it is much 
like the bald eagle, only it is of a grayish-brown 
color, with paler head and yellow beak. These 
birds live mainly upon fish, and seem to find 
much pleasure in robbing the osprey of its fish 
just as it rises from the river. This is a British 
species, and is not found in the new world south 
of Greenland." 

"What about the golden eagle? " said Fletch- 
er. 

" That is sometimes called the mountain eagle. 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 129 

It is found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well 
as Great Britain. The feathers of the neck and 
head are of a rich golden red, and the body a 
rich dark brown. It is the largest of European 
eagles, and easily carries a lamb to its aerie, where 
it is devoured. This eagle is often tamed and 
taught to catch prey for its master. It is kept 
by the Tartars to catch antelopes, foxes, and 
wolves. It is carried hooded on horseback until 
it reaches the spot where the prey is sought. 
While these eagles are so easily tamed, they 
breed in mountains far from, the haunts of men. 
When paired, they have an almost human affec- 
tion for each other, and never seek another 
mate." 
9 



THE BAT. 

"One fer de blackbird, two fer de crow; 
Three fer de cutworm, an' jfo' fer t' grow" — 

chanted Uncle Si as he dropped the grains of 
corn into the open furrow. "Dat min's me ob 
er mity nice tale'bout er pet crow what had hes 
tung split sose he could talk. Speck I'd better 
tell yer 'bout 'im." 

"Now you can't work that racket on me, Un- 
cle Si," interrupted Little Boy, who was trudg- 
ing along at the old darky's heels. "I told 
you I was tired of birds, and the Professor 
promised to begin on animals to-day." 

"But dis wer' er pet crow, sonny, an' hit wer' 
lik'wise er talkin' crow." 

"Can't help that; it was a bird all the same, 
and I tell you I am tired of birds." 

"Well, well! effen yer won't, yer won't," 
said Uncle Si, pretending to be greatly dis- 
gruntled. " Yer's enough lak yer pappy t' hab 
er min' ob yer own, an' 'tain' no use t' go agin' 
yer." 

For a few moments the two pursued their way 

in silence, and then Uncle Si resumed: "I tell 

yer what I'll do. I'm gwine t' split de diffunce 

wid yer. Effen yer's atter beastes, hit am er 

(130) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



131 



Leas'; an' effen yer's atter birds, hit mout be 
called er bird. Can yer guess dat riddle?" 

Fletcher studied a moment and then clapped 
his hands, crying: "Yes, it's a bat." 

"Dat am kerreck," answered Uncle Si, beam- 
ing all over. "Now what yer want er kno' 
'bout dem critters?" 

"I want to know whether they are really 
blind, Uncle Si. You know people say: 'As 
blind as a bat. ' " 




LEATHER-WING BAT. 

"No 'ndeed, chile! Dere eyes am pow'ful 
littl', an effen dey gits-kotch out in de daylite 
'peahs lak dey gits kinder flambustercated. I 
s'pose de strong lite hurt dere eyes. But yer jes' 
put Mr. Bat out in de dahk, an' yer bet y' bot- 
tom dollah he gwine beat yu'n' me seein'." 

"What do bats eat, Uncle Si? " 

"Why dey libs mos'ly offen bugs an' sich; an' 



132 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

dat's what dey's er doin' ob nights er flitterin' 
roun' so. Effen de wedder am so col' hit kill all 
de bugs, why den Mr. Bat he jes' hang hese'f up 
by dem hin' laigs in som ol' tree; an' effen yer 
didn't kno' dere capers, yer'd say: 'My! jes' 
look at dem ded bats!' But bimeby, when de 
bugs gin t' stir, dem bats wak' up as libely es 
ebber." 

"How do they feed the little young bats?" 
asked Fletcher with increasing interest. 

"Now I was jes' erribin' at dat p'int, honey. 
Dey suckles 'em jes fur all de worl' like mices. 
'Deed, dey bodies looks like mices; an' dat fack 
alluz proob t' me dat dey is beastes, kase birds 
ain' nebber bin kno'd to suckle dere young. 
But bats brings awful bad luck; so we'd better 
let 'em erlone an' mosy t' de house, kase I 
'members dat Aunt Mirny say she gwine hab 
bile custud fer dinner." 



THE ALBATROSS. 



"There is so much," said the Professor, 
"about these winged wanderers of the deep to 
interest the mind and charm the fancy that, like 




THE ALBATROSS. 



one in a garden overgrown with flowers, one 
pauses and hesitates which to cull. 

" You love the mystic tales of the old Greeks, 

(133) 



134 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

and will be interested to know that even the 
name given to the albatross is tinged with ro- 
mantic suggestion. The companions of the 
Greek warrior, Diomedes, according to the fan- 
tastic belief of that day, were turned into sea 
birds, and hence the species are called Dio- 
medea. 

' 'The albatross is the largest and most power- 
ful of aquatic birds. It has webbed feet, a beak 
long, sharp, and strong, well fitted for seizing 
and holding its food. There are three varieties 
of these birds, but the largest and best known 
is the wandering albatross; and of this only I 
will tell you, as it has all the characteristics of 
the others. Its body is often four feet long, and 
its slender wings, when extended, measure from 
ten to fifteen feet. Its soft, abundant plumage 
is a dusky white, with bands of black or brown 
and wings of a darker hue than the body. 

"Its principal food is found in the smaller 
fish, which it catches from the water; but it 
does not disdain any animal refuse which comes 
in its way; and, like the vulture, does not hesi- 
tate to feed upon carrion. 

"No other sea bird has such strength of wing, 
and it seems entirely undisturbed by wind or 
waves. Sailors love to tell of how an albatross 
will follow a ship for days, never resting upon 
the waves, but circling above and around the 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 135 

vessel, and, if it sleeps at all, sleeping upon the 
wing. Seafaring men hold this bird in the most 
superstitious esteem, and innumerable stories 
are told of the evil which befalls him who braves 
the fates by shooting this bird of good omen. 
And when we picture the solitary ship, league 
upon league from the sheltering shore, we can w^ell 
imagine how the companionship of even these 
daring birds would cheer the lonely mariner, and 
how their shrill cry would seem like the voice 
of a human friend. Tou must read Coleridge's 
'Ancient Mariner,' and you will never forget the 
superstition with which this bird' is regarded by 
seamen. 

"The albatross is seen on all the Southern 
seas; and it so abounds near the Cape of Good 
Hope that sailors call it 'the cape sheep.' In 
the nesting season it ceases its wanderings over 
the deep, and seeks a solitary island or some rug- 
ged hiding place near the sea. In a rude nest 
on the ground it lays a single egg about four 
inches long. 

"The flesh of the albatross is tough, and by 
us would be pronounced entirely unfit for food; 
but the hardy inhabitants of Kamchatka not 
only eat the bird, but use its long wing bones 
for making various articles, especially tobacco 
pipes. 

"Like the cormorant, it is a greedy bird, and 



136 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

after gorging itself sits stupid and motionless 
upon the waves. In this condition it does not 
resist capture, and is easily caught with the 
hand. 

"The albatross is sometimes called the great 
gull; and it is, indeed, closely allied to the gulls 
and the petrels — all of them belonging to the 
family of long-winged birds. Its cry is like 
that of the pelican, and that it is harsh and un- 
musical may be known when we recall that it is 
often compared to the braying of an ass. But 
when heard above the din and roar of the waters 
it has a strange weird music all its own." 



THE GAXXET. 

"Ykb ain' nebber seed er gannet? Well, I 

'low yer nebber has, case yer ain' nebber had de 
'vantage ob libin 3 close t 5 de oshun. Some 




THE GANNET. 

folks call de gannet de solon goose, an' hit do 
look pow'ful lak er goose; but Tse allers hearn 
hit called gannet." 

"AYhat size is it, Uncle Si," said Fletcher, 
who had come down for a social chat in the old 
darky's cabin. 

••Well, t' look at hit, ye'd say hit wer 5 'bout 
de size ob er goose, but when yer git er good 
zarn on 'iin yer notice dat dere am er difFunce. 
De gannet am erbout ez sizerble ez de goose, but 
hit feel mo' lighter when yer git yo' han' on "im, 
dou^h de win o-s an' tail am Ionian dan de o-oose's. 

(137) 



138 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

But, yer see, hit tak' sumpin' mo' solider dan 
fedders t' mak' size. What color am hit ? 
Well, littP mas', dat depen' on when yer tak' 
notice on 'im. Effen yer happen t' prowl er- 
roun' de nes' when de young am fust hatched, 
yer'd be mighty apt t' say: 'Dat littP oP necked 
slate-culled critter ain' no sawt o' fowel; hit am 
nuffin' but er blin' animule ob er pow'f ul ornary 
fambly at dat.' But bime by dem littP swelt-out 
eyes com' open, an' dat necked body am kivered 
wid white down. Den, arter er while, dat down 
all pass erway, an' de littP gannet git on er coat 
ob nice brown fedders on top, but mo' lighter 
undah de breas'; an ebber fedder am got er nice 
roun' top o' white at de eend. Hit keep dese 
brown fedders nigh erbout free year; den dat 
young gannet hit say to hitse'f: 'Reckon I'm er- 
bout ez big er man ez my ma an' my pa, an' I'm 
wo' out habin' de udder fowels say I don't ex- 
emble my parents er bit.' So dat free-year-oP 
gannet he hop inter er fine suit o' white wid er 
buff collar roun' de neck an' black trimmin' on 
dewing. Den hit say t' hitse'f, 'I'se big ernuff 
t' go inter business for myse'f;' an' hit go t' 
wuk t' fix up er nes'. But dat nes' ain' scasely 
wuvly ob de name; hit ain' nuffin' t' all but er 
scratched-out place on de groun', sometimes wid 
er passel o' grass an' truck in hit, an' sometimes 
nuffin' t' all but de groun'. Den de gannet lay 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 139 

jes' one aig — no mo' — wid er white, chalky shell. 
Dat aig, when hit am hatched, tuhns out ern ud- 
der littP blin', necked, slate-culled animule ez 
we wuz talkin' 'bout jes' now. De gannets dey 
doan com' an' stay at one place an' cyar on deir 
business all de year roun', lak de blue jay an' de 
Inglish sparrer an' some mo' whose room am 
bettah dan deir cump'ny — no, sah! De gang's 
gwin' ter come t' de place whah dey 'low t' raise 
der fambly 'bout de las' o' March an' de fust ob 
April, an' den in de fall dey picks up all deir 
young uns dey's hatched out, an' erway de whole 
shebang scoots t' some warm kintry t' spen' de 
winter. Dey's stylish folks, de gannet fambly 
am; an' how dey do lub fishes! 'Deed, dat's 
mos'ly what dey libs on. Er gang o' gannets 
out on er fishin' tower am er putty sight. Dey 
all flies in er line, an' whenebber er bird gits 
ready t' take er dive, down hit goes, kerzip, 
inter de watah, an' comes out lookin' ez inner- 
cent ez ef nufnn' t' all ain't happen. Den, jes 
lak er soljer, dat bird goes t' de r'ar, so's not t' 
break de line. I'se hearn de fishers say dey kin 
track de schools o' herrin' by watchin' d' gannet 
flop down." 

Fletcher afterwards asked the Professor, and 
learned that the gannet is a web-footed sea fowl 
found near our coasts from Greenland to the Gulf, 
as well as in Europe and in Britain. 



MR. AND MRS. D ADDLES. 

"I feel a warm breeze from the north stirring 
among my feathers this morning," said Mr. Dad- 
dies, as his mate was leisurely sunning herself 




THE MALLARD DUCK. 

and gazing over the Mississippi's broad expanse, 
"and that tells me that it will soon be time for 
us to set out for our mountain resort." 

"But why not stay here? I like Mississip- 
pi better than those Tennessee mountains you 
are always raving about," said Mrs. Daddies, 
who, like most ladies, had her own ideas about 
a place to live. 

"Why, my dear, the climate of Mississippi is 
well enough for winter, but it is not a fit sum- 
mer home for ducks. Your eggs would not 
hatch so well, and the little ducklings would 
most likely pine away and die." 

Mrs. Daddies sulked a little, but finally gave 
(140) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 141 

in, as most wives do, and the very next morning 
she and Mr. Daddies set out for their summer in 
the Tennessee mountains. They had no bag- 
gage, but flew away, and when they were hun- 
gry felt no compunctions about helping them- 
selves to whatever they saw, and said not a word 
about pay. 

When they had flown what seemed a long 
way they reached a lovely country with blue 
mountains in the distance, and rows of bluffs on 
one side of the river, while down to the very 
water's edge on the other side swept such rich 
sandy "bottoms" as were a delight to behold. 

"Now, dearest, this is the place I have been 
telling you about, and here we will make our 
first home. Yonder is the very ledge of rock in 
which my mother made the nest where I was 
hatched, and it would make us a lovely home." 

So they raked together a little dry grass and 
some leaves and constructed a crude nest under 
the shelving bluff where no one would ever find 
it. In this nest every night Mrs. Daddies laid 
a beautiful bluish egg until she had laid ten. 
Then she stopped, and the duty of incubation 
began. And now she did a funny thing. Day 
by day she would pluck the soft down from her 
own breast and put it in the nest among those 
precious eggs, until they were quite snug in their 
feather bed. She rarely left the nest, and never 



142 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

until Mr. Daddies had carefully reconnoitered 
and assured her there was no danger. Then she 
would pull the feather coverlet over her eggs, so 
that they would keep warm and be safe from 
prying eyes. 

In four weeks nine downy, dumpy ducklings 
thrilled the mother's heart with joy, and Mr. 
Daddies was quite as proud of them as if he had 
hatched out the whole gang himself. 

In a day or two the little ones were taken to the 
water and taught to swim, and the insects thought 
that surely the little Daddies could never be filled 
from the way they gobbled them up. 

By the first of November the brood was quite 
large and vigorous, and Mr. Daddies felt a stir- 
ring at his heart and something seemed to say: 
"Away! away!" 

But Mrs. Daddies sighed and demurred, just 
as she had done about leaving Mississippi. 
"Dear me!" she said, "I was in hopes I was set- 
tled for life! But here you go again." 

But nevertheless Mr. Daddies carried the day, 
and eleven Daddleses instead of two started for 
the rice fields and the orange groves. But, as 
they sailed over Mr. Beaumont's plantation 
Fletcher raised his gun, and one beautiful mal- 
lard fell at his feet. And Fletcher brought it 
to Uncle Si with much pride, for it was the first 
wild duck he had ever killed. 



UNCLE SI'S GUINEAS. 

" Ol' mas' may brag 'bout his fine bronje tuk- 
keys, an' ol' mis' may 'low dat dem white Leg- 
gons o' hern am de boss o' de poultry yahd, but 




THE GUINEA. 

'cordin' t 1 my notion, dat gang o' guinnys can't 
be hopped er past/' and Uncle Si listened to their 
querulous "pot rack" with supreme satisfac- 
tion. 

"I doan want no better comp'ny den er pas- 
Bel er guinnys, kase dey's alluz chufful an' libe- 
ly an' ready t' strak up er convussation. An 5 
what's nioh, dey ain't all gab, n udder — dere's 
bizness 'bout guinnys. Dey's lak de June ap- 
ple; dey comes in jes' when dey'fi needed de 

(143) 



144 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



mos\ Alter all de oP hens gone ter cluekin' 
erroun' an' is plum pas' layin' aigs, but is got 
dere haids full o' chickens, dem guinnys dey jes' 
gits down t' dere wuk an' shells out dem aigs, 
an' doan yer fergit it. Dem ol' Brahmer hens 
what ol' mis' tuk sech er shine t', dey ain' gwine 
lay mo'n fo', five aigs, den dey frizzles up dere 
fedders an' goes er cluekin' roun' fum mawnin' 
tell night. But all de time dat tidy little guin- 
ny hen she slip out t' de bushes an' lay an' lay 
ontell sometimes she lay thutty er fawty aigs, 
den mebbe she put 'er min' on settin'. Yes, de 
guinny am ondoubtedly de fowl fur me," and 
Uncle Si took up a basket of the little brown 
speckled eggs and put them under Mrs. Brahma, 
saying as he did so: "Now, miss, you set dere 
tell yer hatch out dem aigs, bein' yer's crazy fur 
de bizness. An' hit's gwin' er tek fo' weeks t' 
change dem littl' aigs inter guinnys, an' yer 
needn' be hoppin' off en dat nes' no sooner." 

Then Uncle Si sprinkled some crumbled tobacco 
leaves into the nest, and left Mrs. Brahma to her 
favorite occupation. As he turned to enter his 
cabin he encountered Fletcher, who had been an 
amused listener to his soliloquy. "But, Uncle 
Si," he began, for he loved to tease the old darky, 
"what makes your favorite fowl so foolish? 
Don't you know if you put your hand in a 
guinea's nest she will leave it?" 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 145 

"In co's I does," replied Uncle Si, "but dat 
am' iniffin' ergin de guinny. She 'low folks ain' 
got no bizness projeckin' roun' her nes', an' I 
doan blame 'er fer dat; contrariwise, I kinder 
glory in 'er spunk." 

"0, I know it's of no use to say anything 
against anything or anybody you like," laughed 
Fletcher; "it only seems to make you like them 
all the more. But I am going to ask you one 
question; and if you answer that all right, Til 
give you a new knife for a Christmas present. 
Why do you call them guineas?" 

The old darky scratched his head and studied 
profoundly for a moment. "Well, littl' mas'," 
he finally said, "I'se hearn all my life dat Guin- 
ny niggers cum' fum Aferky; an' if Guinny nig- 
gers com' fum dere, Guinny fowls mus' er com' 
fum dere too!" 

"That's a pretty good answer," replied Fletch- 
er, "and I'll have to get the knife for you. 
There are four or five kinds of guinea fowls, 
and they all came from Africa, but that was a 
long time ago, and the guinea fowls seem to feel 
as much at home with us as the darkies do," 
and the boy stroked the old man's horny hand 
with a tenderness that was strong and enduring. 
10 



THE GOOSE FLETCHER SHOT. 

Ever since Fletcher brought down that beau- 
tiful mallard he had pursued his studies in nat- 




THE WILD GOOSE. 

ural history with fresh zeal, and his questions 
about all kinds of migratory fowls were a great 
delight to the Professor. For, like all teachers 
who have the interest of their pupils at heart, 
our Professor realized that the lesson which is 
thought of only in the school is not digested and 
is of little permanent benefit. On the French 
Broad, where Mr. Beaumont's beautiful planta- 
tion lay, wild ducks and geese and every species 
of waterfowl common to that section were found 
(146) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 147 

in great abundance, and the country people 
prophesied as to the severity of the winter by 
the time the wild goose set out for its Southern 
home. Its shrill cry was familiar to Fletch- 
er, and was as sweet to his ear as it was to the 
Romans on that long ago night when it warned 
them of the enemy's approach. To kill a wild 
goose was the dream of his boyish heart, and 
when one fine autumn day that dream w r as real- 
ized he felt a thrill that only the huntsman's heart 
can know. He brought it in to the Profess- 
or, who duly marveled over its size, its beauty, 
and its wondrous fatness. Of all the geese that 
had ever been killed in Tennessee, there was 
never a goose like that. At least Fletcher 
thought so. Aunt Mirny prepared it for the ta- 
ble in her very best style, and all agreed that a 
fat goose made a dinner not to be disdained. 

"Why is it," asked Fletcher of the Professor, 
"that my natural history speaks of the gray lag 
goose as the origin of all our tame geese — why 
do they call it the lag goose, I mean?" 

"This is a question that has puzzled many 
naturalists," replied the Professor with a smile, 
"but Prof. Skeat observes that the term may 
have the same meaning as in the word 'lag- 
gard,' one who loiters or stays behind; as when 
the gray goose received its name it was not mi- 
gratory, but lagged behind its comrades when 



148 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

they started for their brooding places in the 
North." 

"And are all our domestic geese but varia- 
tions of this gray lag goose?" asked Mrs. Beau- 
mont with interest. 

"Yes, they are all supposed to be, and the 
change in size, color, etc., have been brought 
about by differences in climate, breeding, and 
so on. But the chief change in plumage is that 
the tame geese lose the darker shades of the 
wild variety and become more or less white." 

"I have never thought we set the proper value 
on the goose as a table fowl," said Mr. Beaumont, 
"but they are very popular with the Jews. Dur- 
ing the war I boarded for a time with a Jewish 
family, and a fat goose was one of our regular 
Sunday luxuries, and it was a luxury, too. 

"Then, how would we get along without their 
feathers?" asked Mrs. Beaumont, whose feather 
beds were noted all over the neighborhood. 

"An effen yer'll skuse me fer sayin' hit, dere 
ain' nuffin mo' s'archin' den goose ile," said Un- 
cle Si, who had come in to replenish the fire. 
"Doan yer 'member how yer uster sen' me ten 
mile t' git er few draps when littl' mas' ober 
dere had de croup?" 

"Well, I guess the goose is a pretty useful 
fowl; but, in my opinion, the best part is shoot- 
ing it," said Fletcher, as the circle broke up. 



MR. RACCOOX'S CHARACTER. 

Fletcher had been given a bright new silver 
dollar by his bachelor uncle, with no limita- 
tion as to how it should be spent except that 
he was to "buy something useful." He could 




THE RACCOON. 

not quite make up his mind as to how he wished 
to invest it, so, as he usually did in his boyish 
perplexities, he went over to counsel with Un- 
cle Si. 

The old darky laid aside his ax and sat 
down on the wood pile, in order that he might 
give the important question his entire attention. 

"So yer wants my invice 'bout 'vestin' dat 
dollah what yo' uncle done guv yer. Dis ol' 
niggah's invice doan 'mount t' much, but ef en- 
nybody's hankerin' atter it dey suttinly am wel- 
cum t' it free gratis fur nuffin. Now, den, ez de 

(149) 



150 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

passon say, fustly, is yer bin circumsquatula- 
tin' 'bout enny speshul t'ing yer'd lak t' buy?" 

"Well, not exactly," answered Fletcher, 
with some hesitation: "I had thought a little 
about that pet coon of Bill Morton's. He says 
he'll take a dollar for it." 

Uncle Si gave a low, suppressed whistle 
and exclaimed: "De lan's sake! LittP mas', 
what in de name o' peace yer gwine do wid er 
coon? Doan yer kno' hit ud bodaceously tarri- 
fy ol' mis' t' def ? She jes' nebber would heah 
to dat, I'm sho." 

Fletcher looked disappointed, and said: "Why, 
what's the matter with coons, Uncle Si? I'm 
sure you love to hunt them and eat them too." 

"Dat's so, chile; but hit's one propersishun 
t' ketch a warmint an' eat 'im up t' git 'im out- 
en hes meanness, an' ernudder t' take 'im inter 
de buzzum ob yer fambly; ain' dat er fack?" 

"But, Uncle Si, what meanness does the coon 
do?" 

"Why, honey! ye'd better ax what mean- 
ness he doan do. Dere ain' nuffin on de face 
ob de yarth dat er coon won't eat. Atter he 
done tuk er square meal offen frogs an' mices, 
he fool erroun' an' eat up er lot ob little 
birds and dere nestes. Den he prance ober t' 
master's roassen-yeah patch an' 'stroy enough t' 
feed er hawg." 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 151 

"In short, he is omniverous, is he, Uncle 
Si?" queried the Professor, who had quietly en- 
tered the group. 

Uncle Si blushed under his blackness and 
answered: "I doan know, sir, what sort o' 'niv- 
erous he am; I jes' know he am de mos' stuffin- 
est warmint in de woods. He 'minds me o' 
some dahkies I knows. Dey dress up an' call 
deysef 'Mister Smif an' 'Mister Brown;' and 
law, honey! dey woulden' look tode er chicken 
roos'! An' de coon, he spraid dat bushy tail, 
and call hesef 'Mister Raccoon;' but, chile, 
when daylite gone yer better lock dat hen'ouse 
do'; else yer gwine er heah dem ol' hens go, 
'Squawk!' An' I ain' gwinter say whedder Mr. 
Raccoon er dat two-legged coon done de debil- 
ment. Now yer'll hatter ax de Puffesser 'bout 
de skyentifical part of de coon; dat ain' in my 
line." 



MR. RACCOON FROM A "SKYENTIFI- 
CAL" POINT OF VIEW. 

The Professor was lounging under the trees 
during the heat of a July day. Beside him lay a 
book on natural history, at which he occasional- 
ly glanced; but the day was better suited to 
idleness and pleasant dreaming than to scientific 
research. By and by Fletcher came out and 
threw himself on the ground near by, exclaiming, 
"O, how lonesome I am! I do wish papa and 
mamma would come home from the springs, and 
never leave me again." 

The Professor raised himself on his elbow 
and suggested: " Would not this be a good time 
to find out something more about Mr. Raccoon 
than Uncle Si could tell?" 

" Indeed it would," exclaimed Fletcher, 
springing up to a listening posture. "Tell me 
his habitat first." 

Little Boy had learned a few of what Uncle 
Si termed " skyentifical " terms, and was very 
fond of airing them, especially for the benefit of 
the Professor. 

"Well," began the Professor, smiling, "the 
raccoon is found from Alaska to Central Amer- 
ica, and belongs to the same family as weasels, 
badgers, and bears. They are all hibernating 
(152) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 153 

animals. I wonder if you remember what I told 
you about hibernating animals?" 

"O yes," was the prompt reply; "they go 
into their nests or dens and stay all winter." 

"Very good," said the Professor. "Well, 
Mr. Raccoon goes into his nest rather early, and 
does not come out until pleasant weather." 

"Where does he sleep at night?" Fletcher 
asked. 

"I doubt whether he sleeps much at night, as 
he is what we call nocturnal in his habits — hid- 
ing in his nest during the day and going out at 
night in search of food. I never saw but one 
raccoon in the daytime, and that was a very 
cloudy day. It was about the size of the badger, 
and was certainly an ugly creature with its 
clumsy, thick-set body, its coarse grayish-brown 
hair and bushy white-and-black ringed tail. I 
wonder that you should fancy such a bundle of 
ugliness for a pet." 

"Boys, don't choose their pets for beauty," 
said Fletcher wisely. "But you have not told 
me where raccoons make their nests." I wonder 
that I have never found one." 

"O, they are pretty sly about that," was the 
reply. "They usually burrow far into a hol- 
low tree, and are hard to find, They are good 
swimmers and do not mind crossing a river, es- 
pecially if it should be to get a nice fat pullet 



154 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

for their young, which the mother keeps with 
her for a year." 

"Well," said Fletcher as the Professor arose 
in answer to the supper bell, "coons are very 
nice animals; and the more I hear about them, 
the more I wish mamma would let me buy one 
for a pet." 



WHY A FOX WOULD NOT DO. 

"It seems as if I will never get to spend my 
dollar," said Fletcher rather disconsolately, as he 
^nd Uncle Si rode along in the- spring wagon on 
their way to the old-fashioned water mill, where 




THE FOX. 



Mr. Beaumont insisted on having his corn 
ground. The things that I want mamma and 
papa say are not proper, and the things they 
call proper a boy just wouldn't look at. How 
would a fox do for a pet? I know of a feller 
that has one to sell." 

"Bless de chile!" ejaculated Uncle Si, almost 
dropping the reins in his astonishment. "Why 
doan he go an' git er scorping or er rattlesnaik 
t' pet? Peahs lak dis wah done tuhn hes haid, 

(155) 



156 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

an' he doan keer nothin' 'tall 'bout peacerbul 
varmints." 

"Well, what's the matter with a fox?" per- 
sisted Fletcher, determined to make Uncle Si 
give a reason for "the faith that was in him." 

"What's de matter wid 'im? Why, honey, 
dere's ebbert'ing de matter wid him! In de 
fus' place, he am er bawn rogue; an' yer 
kno' ol' mas' ain' gwine tol'rate no rogues on 
dis plantation. He jes' fur all de worl' lak 
sum dahkies I knows: he's wittels doan peah ter 
hab no rallish lessen he steal 'em." 

"What does he steal?" asked Fletcher, giv- 
ing old Bonnie a sharp cut with the whip. 

"Law, chile! he steal whatsumebber dat ol' 
long nose o' hisn kin smell, f am er rat t' a tuk- 
key gobbler. I min' when our fambly [Uncle 
Si felt that he was as much a member of the 
family as any of them] fus' cum t' Tennessee 
f um ol' Firginny, mistis couldn't raise no chick- 
ens skasely fur de foxes; but de folks don' chase 
'em tel dey kinder jubous 'bout comin' roun'. I 
kin rickolleck when dey howl erroun' uv er 
night tel er body jes' pintedly could'n' sleep. 

"Is a fox easy to tame, Unci Si?" 

"No'n 'deed! dey nebber is tamed t' 'mount 
t' nuffin. Dat's what make me doan bleebe what 
dese skyentifical folks say 'bout foxes an' dawgs 
bein' fum de same stock. You feed er dawg, 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



157 



an' he gwine lub yer lak he lubs hes life; yer 
feed er fox, an' de berry bes' he kin do is to 
keep dem oP sha'p teef funi bitin' yer. He ain' 
got no mo' 'fection 'bout 5 im dan er wiper. He 
am cunnin', an' kno' how t' look atter hes 
own hide, an' dat's de bes' yer kin say 'bout 
Jim." 

"Uncle Si," continued Fletcher, "I read the 
other day that folks used to pay their taxes in 
fox skins. I don't believe that." 

"Law, yes, chile!" said Uncle Si, chuckling 
at his own superior knowledge; "dat am de 
gospul troof . Dat wer' kinder bef o' my day, but 
many's de time I'se hearn my daddy tell 'bout 
dribin' de teams t' Richmon' town loaded wid 
coon skins an' fox skins an' de lak fur t' pay de 
taxes." 



FLETCHER'S MOLE HUNT. 

Mrs. Beaumont had given Fletcher a small 
plot of ground in one corner of the yard, and 
this he called his " flower garden. He had quite 
a knack at planting and transplanting; indeed, 
according to Uncle Si, "hit doan mek' no dif- 
funce 'tall which eend dat chile put in de groun', 
dem plants gwinter grow; kase he's got de 
knack— he git dat fum me." 

Fletcher worked early and late amongst his 




THE MOLE. 

flowers, and they were the pride of his heart. 
One morning he rose early to take a peep at 
some beautiful beds which he and Uncle Si had 
carefully raked and laid out in all sorts of pret- 
ty designs and planted with his choicest seeds 
the day before. Imagine his consternation when 
he beheld his crosses and diamonds and cres- 
cents, and even his name, "Charles Fletcher 
Beaumont," all torn to pieces and burrowed into 
(158) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 159 

by little bolsterlike ridges in every direction. 
His shouts to Uncle Si soon brought the old man 
from his cabin, but before he reached the flower 
garden he espied the devastation and grunted: 
"Umph! dat some o' Mas' Mole's pranks. He 
done ruin my lettis bed, an' now he t'ink he 
gwine try he's han' on de white folks' truck." 

"O, Uncle Si, what is the matter with my 
beautiful flower beds?" cried Fletcher almost 
in tears. "What could have done it?" 

"Dat am er mole, honey, an' dis niggah 
gwinter git 'im befo' he's much older." 

So Uncle Si got down on his knees and slow- 
ly followed all the little ridges with his hand, 
until at last he stopped short and pressed very 
hard, exclaiming: "I'se got 'im! Bring me de 
trow'l, quick." 

He dug into the ridge, and soon unearthed 
such a queer-looking little animal that Fletcher 
almost forgot his ruined flower beds in examin- 
ing it. It was about six inches long, with cylin- 
der-shaped body and a cone-shaped head which 
ended in a long, tough nose. This nose was its 
boring instrument. Its eyes were so small that 
they scarcely looked like eyes at all, and you 
would have said it had no ears whatever. But, 
indeed, its sense of hearing and of smell are very 
acute. 

"What beautiful fur!" exclaimed Fletcher, 



160 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

passing his hand gently over its black, silky 
body. 

"Yes, 'ndeed," said Uncle Si; "I done heah 
mistis say de mole skin mak' lubly furs, but dey 
sech leetle teensy t'ings hit tek' so many of 'em 
t' do enny good." 

When Fletcher carried the captive mole 
into the house the Professor told him that the 
little animal did not mean to destroy his flow- 
er beds, but was in search of earthworms, on 
which it principally subsists. He put the small 
prisoner in a bird cage, and fed it industriously 
on worms. But it pined in captivity, and soon 
died. Then he stuffed it and proudly added it 
to his "collection." 



MONKEYS AND APES. 

One evening as the family were seated out in 
the front yard, enjoying the last rays of the No- 
vember sun as it sunk behind the mountains, a 




<r£^3 



MONKEY CARRYING HER YOUNG. 

queer little man came up carrying a hand organ, 
and with a grotesquely dressed monkey perched 
upon his shoulder. Both man and monkey doffed 
their hats and made a deep obeisance to Mrs. 
Beaumont, and the man said: " Goot ladee, you 
gif me one bed, some supper, an' I play you shweet 
U (161) 



162 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

music an' show you all Banquo tricks." Just 
then Uncle Si peered around the corner of the 
house to see what visitors had come, and Mrs. 
Beaumont told him to take the man and the 
monkey around to the kitchen and see that they 
had their supper. 

Banquo seemed to understand the order, for 




APE. 



as the trio started around the house he bounced 
down from his master's shoulder, and with 
lightning swiftness landed on that of Uncle Si, 
who received him with a regular Comanche yell, 
as he cried out: "Gway fum heah! gway fum 
heah! Yer looks fur all de worP lak my oP 



OUT AMOXG THE ANIMALS. 



163 



grandaddy what kum fum Aferky, an' I do bleeb 
yer's he's ham!" 

Uncle Si fled to his cabin, and Fletcher escort- 
ed the man and the monkey to the kitchen. 
When he returned to the group on the veranda 
he said: "Professor, are apes, monkeys, and 
baboons all the same?*' 

"Yes; by many naturalists the term 'ape' in- 
cludes monkeys, gorillas, baboons, chimpan- 
zees, and, in short, the whole family of creatures 
whose structure is so startlingly like man's." 

"What is the difference between monkeys and 
apes?" asked Mrs. Beaumont. "I never did ex- 
actly know." 

"The most marked difference is the tail," an- 
swered the Professor. "Apes have no tail what- 
ever, baboons have short tails, and monkeys 
have, like our visitor Banquo, very long tails. 
Of all the monkey tribe, gorillas and chimpan- 
zees are most like man; but the gorilla is fierce 
and ferocious, while the chimpanzee is lively 
and inclined to make friends." 

"Do gorillas and chimpanzees walk upright 
like man?" asked Fletcher. 

"They can do so, but frequently they go 
back to their quadrupedal style of walking. 
With their big, ungainly bodies and long arms it 
is astonishing with what ease they transport them- 
selves from limb to limb and from tree to tree." 



164 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

"How many kinds of monkeys are there?" 
asked Fletcher. 

"Ah, it would be difficult to count the various 
families and subfamilies, with their numerous 
branches. For instance, among the manlike 
monkeys we find gorillas, chimpanzees, and 
orang-outangs — all with so many human ways 
that it would almost seem that they are akin to 
us, after all. The orang-outang is found only 
in the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, while, as 
you know, chimpanzees and gorillas come from 
Africa." 

"Then they may be akin to Uncle Si's ' gran- 
daddy, 5 who knows?" said Fletcher laughing- 
ly, as they parted for the night, with the prom- 
ise from the Professor that they would come 
back to the subject at some other time. 



MRS. RAT'S COMPLAINT. 

"I'm er gwinter git me er box o' ' Rough on 
Rats' ez shore ez preachin," grumbled Uncle Si 
one Sunday morning as he took down his cher- 




RAT. 



ished beaver hat, in which he had expected to 
shine resplendent at the "Qua't'ly Confunce." 
But lo! through the very heart of it Mrs. Rat 
had gnawed a nice little door, and there depos- 
ited five hairless, sightless, and O such ugly 
baby rats! 

That night after Uncle Si had gone to sleep, 
forgetful of the ruined beaver, Mr. and Mrs. 
Rat held a consultation in the wood shed. 

"Yes, that is what we hear," began the irate 
rodent, "whenever we find a cozy home we are 
threatened with 'Rough on Rats!' ' Rough on 
Rats!' As if the whole world were not rough 
on rats! If things go on this way, there won't 
be a spot where a rat can gnaw out an honest 
living." 

"You are quite right, my dear," exclaimed 

(165) 



166 OUT AMOKG THE AOTMA.LS. 

Mrs. Rat. "I have often regretted that our an- 
cestors ever left Asia" — 

"You mean Europe, my love," mildly sug- 
gested Mr. Rat. 

"No, I don't mean Europe, either; I mean 
Asia; and I hope, Mr. Rat, you won't under- 
take to correct me in the genealogy of our fam- 
ily. Let me inform you that the rat family 
was known and respected in Asia long before it 
was heard of in Europe. From Asia it did 
spread into Europe and from Europe into Amer- 
ica." 

"We are certainly a very ancient and very 
honorable family," said Mr. Rat, who would 
never dispute a point with his better half. I 
was reading yesterday in our family history 
that there are no less than two hundred and fifty 
well-established branches of the Muridce, or rat 
family." 

"Yes, that is something to be thankful for," 
assented the spouse, somewhat mollified; "but 
I also read in one of those horrid books — ency- 
clopedias, I think they call them — that 'the 
rat is a great pest wherever it takes up its 
abode.' And that is just it — we are looked upon 
as a pest, with no rights whatever. If by hon- 
est gnawing we get into a granary and help 
ourselves to a little wheat or corn, all the cats 
in Christendom will know it the next morning." 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



167 



"But think, my dear," pursued Mr. Rat, 
bent on peace, "think of our elegant relations. 
Squire Beaver, you know, is our first cousin, 
and so are those lovely little white mice, while 
that courtly Sir Wharf Rat is" — 

"I hope you won't mention him! " indignant- 
ly broke in his wife. "He is a regular thief 
and marauder, and hasn't a friend on earth. I 
would even rather claim kin with poor little 
Cousin Jemima Mouse, who is respectable and 
is always, found in genteel company. But 
there is one consolation in all our troubles: we 
have four sharp teeth to earn a living with and 
four swift legs to carry us out of trouble, so" — 

Just then Uncle Si's big cat Mims made a 
frantic dive into the wood shed, and this estima- 
ble but not appreciated couple had need of their 
swift legs to make good their escape. 

The next day Uncle Si bought the "Rough on 
Rats," but the interlopers had concluded to 
move. * 



THE WEASEL. 

"Umph! umph! umph!" grunted Uncle Si as 
he opened his little henhouse one morning and 
gazed disconsolately within. "I knowed when 
I heah dat oV hen er crowin' yistiddy dat she 
gwinter happen ter sum bad luck, an' jes' look 
er dar. " 

No wonder the old darky was sorrow- 




THE WEASEL. 

stricken; for there on the floor, with their 
throats cut, lay his thirteen little Plymouth 
Rock chickens that he had cherished with so 
much tenderness. Not one of them had es- 
caped, and the poor mother hen stood over the 
lifeless group clucking and calling to them in a 
piteous manner. 

"What in the world could have done it?" 
asked Fletcher, approaching just at that mo- 
ment. 

(168) 



OUT AMO^G THE AXIMAL^. l6lj 

"Well, honey, hit inout er bin er polecat, 
but it want, kase we doan smell ? iru; an' hit 
mout er bin warious critters; but Fs ez shore 
ez preaehin' dat hit's de same oF weasel what's 
bin er suckin' ol' mis' aigs. Ternight I gw inter 
lay fur 'im, an' I 'low he won' cut nary nud- 
der chicken's froat." 

So Unci Si spent most of the day in oiling, 
burnishing, and loading his venerable flintlock 
gun; and to have witnessed his preparations 
you would have thought he was going to fight 
the entire Spanish army. 

Fletcher begged to be allowed to share his 
vigil; and his mother consented with consider- 
able reluctance, for she feared that the old flint- 
lock might do more harm to Fletcher or Uncle 
Si than to the enemies of their poultry. 

When the time came for Fletchers lessons 
the Professor soon discovered that his pupil's 
mind was not on the text-books. He finally di- 
vulged his and Uncle Si's plans for the night, 
and the Professor thought it a fitting time to 
give him some points about the weasel. 

Said the Professor: "The weasel belong^ to 
a family which some naturalists call martens; 
and all the animals of this family are distin- 
guished by a strong, pungent odor. Sables, ot- 
ters, badgers, skunks, polecats, and weasels 
all belong to this class; and, because their bod- 



170 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

ies are shaped like a worm, they are called ' ver- 
miform.' The weasel is the smallest member of 
its family, and it is really a pretty little crea- 
ture if one could lose sight of its wickedness. 
Its soft coat of fur is of a reddish-brown above, 
and the underparts of the body are pure white. 
In very cold regions the weasel turns complete- 
ly white." 

"How large is a weasel?" asked Fletcher; 
"as big as a coon?" 

"No, indeed," said the Professor; "the body 
of the male, without the tail, is only eight or 
ten inches, and the female is smaller. But it is 
bold and bloodthirsty, and, instead of being 
content to kill just what it can eat, it will kill 
a great deal more, just for the love of murder, 
I suppose." 

"Like it did Uncle Si's chickens," said Fletch- 
er, indignantly. "How does it kill things?" 

"It gives one quick thrust with its sharp 
teeth on the back of the head, piercing the 
most delicate part of the brain." 



FLETCHER'S PONT. 



"Uncle Stuart is coming! Hurrah! hur- 
rah!" shouted Fletcher, brandishing a letter as 
he entered his mother's room. 

"Uncle Stuart" was a wealthy bachelor uncle 
who lived in San Francisco, and his annual vis- 
its were a perpetual picnic to Fletcher. Les- 




THE SHETLAND PONY. 

sons were suspended, or were made so light 
that they were little more than play — and every- 
thing and everybody put on a festive air, for 
"Uncle Stuart" was Mrs. Beaumont's only 
brother and the idol of them all. 

Perhaps Fletcher's joy was intensified by 
these words at the bottom of the letter: " Tell 
my nephew to have his bridle and saddle ready, 
for I shall bring him a pony." 

(171) 



172 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

"A pony! to be my very own, and nobody 
else to boss it!" If Fletcher had put his very 
brightest dreams into tangible shape, that is 
about how he would have expressed it. Now, 
like the boys in fairy stories, his dream was 
about to come true, only it was no fairy prince, 
but a loving, living uncle who was to bring his 
great happiness to pass. 

"I wonder what sort of a pony it will be," 
said Fletcher as they sat in family council out 
in the veranda. 

' 'Not a mustang, I hope," commented Mrs. 
Beaumont with motherly solicitude. 

"Why not a mustang?" questioned Fletcher, 
who loved danger like a foxhound loves a race. 

"Because," answered his father, "of all vex- 
atious, unreliable, tantalizing creatures, the 
mustang is the worst. To-day he is a saint, to- 
morrow he is a veritable imp of Satan; and the 
trouble about him is that you never know, when 
you start out with him, which he is going to 
prove, saint or sinner. Yet, for a rough coun- 
try and a wild life, there is nothing like the mus- 
tang." 

"Were mustangs here when Columbus discov- 
ered America?" asked Fletcher. 

"No, indeed, nor horses of any kind. The 
settlers soon imported horses, however; but, as 
there were no fences, they gradually strayed 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 173 

away into the prairies and became wild. From 
these came the mustang." 

"Are mustangs and Indian ponies the same 
thing, father?" 

"Yes, and sometimes they are called Mexican 
ponies, too; but they are the same tough little 
mustangs of the West." 

"How large are they?" asked Fletcher. 

"Well, they will hardly average over thirteen 
hands high, rather light, with good legs and 
shoulders, and a sharp, strong back. Sure of 
foot, tough, and fleet, the mustang, the Indian, 
and the wild West seem just suited to each oth- 
er. But, like the Indian, the mustang is hard to 
civilize and harder to keep civilized. I should 
not like to see my son on one, especially if he 
should take it into his head to exhibit his 'buck- 
ing' powers." 

The pony question was here dropped, and Mrs. 
Beaumont was greatly relieved when, a few 
weeks later, "Uncle Stuart" came, and the 
pony proved to be, not the dreaded mustang, 
but a darling, dumpy little Shetland pony, fresh 
from his home in the Scottish isles. And from 
the dainty little mouth to the very tip of its long 
bushy tail Fletcher took it into his heart and 
loved it as if it were a human being. 



UNCLE STUART'S TALK ABOUT THE 
BUFFALO. 



Wonderful were the times that Fletcher had 
while Uncle Stuart tarried with them, and 
never did he weary of hearing about that mar- 
velous new country where nuggets of gold are 
supposed to grow on trees and where everything 
is on a gigantic scale. They had talked about 




THE BUFFALO. 

gold digging, washing, etc., and Fletcher had 
plied his uncle with questions until it would have 
seemed that his catechetical powers were ex- 
hausted. But, as Uncle Si said, "when dat 
boy kan't ax no mo' questshuns, yer bettah 
shet up de book." 

"There is just one thing more I want you 
(174) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



H 



to tell me, Uncle Stuart," continued the young 
inquisitor. "Did you ever see a buffalo?" 

"Yes, indeed," was the smiling reply. "I 
have seen herds of them, but that was when I 
first went to live in the West. Once, when the 
Pacific railroad was first put in operation, I 
was on the train, and such a herd of buffaloes 
got on the track that the cars had to be stopped. 
But nothing of that kind is seen now, for, like 
the poor Indian, the buffalo retreats before the 
white man and civilization." 

"Now tell me, Uncle Stuart, is there any 
difference between the buffalo and the bison? I 
say they are the same thing, but Charlie Simms 
says they are not." 

"You are right this time. A buffalo and a 
bison are one and the same." 

"What do they look like?" 

"Well, more like our common ox than any- 
thing with which you are familiar, yet larger 
and more powerfully built. The forehead and 
neck are covered with dark-brown hair, long 
and shaggy. The European bison sheds his 
mane in the summer; but the American bison's 
mane is permanent, and the massive head and 
neck, with the hump on the shoulders, give him 
a formidable appearance. * Why do not people 
tame and work them?' you ask. Efforts have 
been made in that direction, but without sue- 



176 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

cess. One thing which will always prevent the 
buffalo from becoming popular as a beast of 
burden, even if he could be tamed, is the fact 
that, no matter how heavily laden, when he 
crosses water he will lie down and wallow. 
This, you see, would be rather trying both upon 
his rider and his cargo. But as an article of 
food the buffalo is not to be despised. The 
meat is as good as the finest beef; and, indeed, 
what our tame cattle are to us the buffalo was to 
the Indian in the days when the Indian and the 
buffalo could roam with equal freedom over the 
wide-sweeping prairies. But, in spite of his 
fierce looks, the buffalo is timid in the presence 
of man, unless wounded, and then he is an ene- 
my the bravest man might well dread. When 
I go home I mean to send you a beautiful buffalo 
robe for that pony cart you are to have one of 
these days." 



THE DOG FAMILY. 

' "Well, Fletcher," said the Professor, as they 
resumed their lessons the 1st of September, "I 
see we have come to the subject of dogs in our 
text-book. How would you like to spend the 
hour to-day in talking about dogs in general, 
and then we can take up the different species?" 

"I should like that," was the reply; and I 
want you to tell me first whether Noah took any 
dogs into the ark with him. 

"I cannot tell you as to that," the Professor 
said; "but I will say that in what we call pre- 
historic ages dogs were found. This is proved 
by their skeletons deposited in the earth. In 
historic times we find figures of the dog on 
Egyptian monuments from three to five thou- 
sand years old." 

"Yes," broke in Fletcher, eager to display 
his knowledge, "don't you remember that my 
mythology says that the Egyptians worshiped 
dogs and often embalmed them?" 

"I am glad to see that you remember what 
you learn," said the Professor. "The ancient 
Greeks and Romans also held dogs in high es- 
teem, and used them in their many wars. But 
dogs have various uses in various countries; 
for instance, how would you like to be served 
with a dish of dog steak?" 

12 (177) 



178 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

"Ugh!" exclaimed Fletcher, with a look of 
ineffable disgust. 

"And yet," continued the Professor, "there 
are countries — China, for instance — where dogs 
are eaten, and when used for this purpose they 
are usually fed upon vegetables instead of flesh, 
which is their natural food." 

"I should like to know," mused Fletcher, 
"whether dogs were always dogs, or whether 
they are like cats, akin to all sorts of animals?" 

"Mr. Darwin says — and you know we have 
no better authority than he — that it is likely that 
our domestic dog is descended from various spe- 
cies of wolves, jackals, and perhaps other ex- 
tinct canine species. So you see the dog would 
have as much trouble in getting up his family 
tree as some of our American aristocracy. But 
I think, of all the animals, our greatest friends 
are the dogs. They are more devoted, more 
faithful even, than the horse, and that is saying 
a great deal. They seem to have nearly every 
feeling that man has; they have often been 
known to die of grief, and I had a dog once 
that refused to eat and fell away to a mere 
skeleton because I brought another dog into the 
family — jealous, you see! But our time is up 
now, and we will leave the various species of 
dogs to another day." 



WOLF DOGS. 

"When you remember that there are over 
one hundred and eighty-nine varieties of domes- 
tic dogs," began the Professor, "you will see 
that it is not easy to select the most interesting 
and important. But the most of these may be 




THE ESKIMO DOG. 

arranged under the heads of wolf dogs, grey- 
hounds, spaniels, hounds, mastiffs, terriers. Do 
you remember the picture in your geography of 
the Eskimo dogs?" 

"Yes, indeed," replied Fletcher. 

"Well," continued the Professor, "these dogs 
are admirable creatures in spite of the cruel 
treatment they nearly always receive. In the 
frozen regions of North America it is hard to 
imagine what man would do without them. 

(179) 



180 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



The Eskimo dog is about the size of a mastiff, 
with a bushy tail, and is black-and-white in color. 
Dr. Kane, the noted Arctic explorer, tells how a 
number of them carried him and a well-laden 
sleigh between seven and eight hundred miles in 
two weeks, an average of about fifty-seven miles 
a day." 

"They beat horses," said Fletcher. 

"No horse could find a footing in that snow- 




THE SHEPHERD DOG. 

covered land; and here, as in all else, is shown 
the wisdom of God. Fleet-footed and unwea- 
ried, light and active, these Eskimo dogs seem 
worthy of a better life; for it is said that they 
are treated with the greatest cruelty by their 
masters. On that account they are wild, savage, 



OUT AMOXG the aximals. 181 

and obstinate, and their owners are always care- 
ful to place a good dog as leader in the team. 
If not under the control of man, they soon go 
back into a wild state and become ferocious and 
unmanageable. Leaving the Eskimo dog, we 
will next come to the shepherd dog." 

"Is that what you call a collie?" asked 
Fletcher 

"Yes, the Scotch collie is one variety of 
shepherd dog; but there are others also. In 
Oriental countries, where the dog's chief task is 
to protect the herds from wild beasts and rob- 
bers, the shepherd dog is a powerful creature, 
as large as the Newfoundland; its ears are erect, 
its nose pointed — everything about it shows 
strength and power." 

"Father used to have a Scotch collie to bring 
home the cows," said Fletcher, but she was not 
more than half so large as our big Newfound- 
land." 

"You are correct: the Scotch collie is much 
smaller than the Newfoundland, but for intelli- 
gence almost human I do not believe it has an 
equal. In the Highlands of Scotland, where the 
land is fit only for grazing purposes, one of these 
dogs will do the work of a dozen men. They take 
the flocks to the hills, watch them as they graze, 
and bring them home at night, often without 
any aid whatever from the shepherd." 

"Are all shepherd dogs black? Ours was." 

"No, their long shaggy hair is sometimes en- 
tirely black; then you will see it varied with 
gray or brown." 



THE BLOODHOUND. 

"So yo' lesson's 'bout bloodhoun's, am it, 
honey! Bless my soul, chile, effen I jes' had 
de time, I could tell moh tales 'bout dem blood- 
houn's dan yer could forgit in er yeah." 




THE BUCCANEER (IMPORTED.) 

"Do tell me about them, Uncle Si. It's not 
time for lessons yet." 

"No, no, honey; I 'low I'd bettah tek up dese 
heah ashes an' mek dis fiah, sose de room'll be 
hot when de Puffesser come in. Some dese 
days I gwine tell yer how my brudder Ellick 
lub er free yaller gal an' run off wid 'er kase 
hes oF mas' woulden' let 'm buy hese'f, an' how 
dey chase 'im inter de swamp wid dem awful 
(182) 



OUT AMOXG THE ANIMALS. 183 

bloodhoun's, an — but hit's too long a tale fer 
dis time, fur heah comes de Puffesser, an' dis 
ol' nigger better tek hese'f off." 

So saving, Uncle Si picked up his ash bucket 
and departed. 

" Uncle Si is like all of the darkies," said the 
Professor, who had overheard the last part of the 
old man's talk. "Bloodhounds and runaway 
negroes are always connected in his mind. And 
no wonder, for in slave times these dogs were 
frequently used to capture runaways." 

"Do bloodhounds look like other hounds?" 
asked Fletcher, for whom hounds had always 
possessed a peculiar fascination. 

" Yes, all the varieties of hounds are more or 
less alike; they all have long ears, close hair, 
deep muzzle, and hunt not by sight but by 
scent. Many good authorities consider the 
bloodhound as the parent stock of all other 
hounds; but it is larger and more muscular 
than other hounds, and has a keener scent than 
any other dog that is known." 

"How do they track people with blood- 
hounds?" queried the interested pupil. "I 
have never understood how they made the dog 
know who it was they wanted." 

"That is easily done. Some garment that he 
has worn or article that the person to be cap- 
tured has touched is shown to the dog, and when 



184 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

once he has got the scent he cannot be turned 
from it by a hundred other scents." 

"I think it is wonderful," said Fletcher. 
"Why do people keep bloodhounds?" 

"Well, in olden times they were kept by 
warriors to pursue their enemies, and you will 
see a great deal about them when you come to 
read of the many little wars between Scotland 
and England. Wallace and Bruce and other 
noble men who fought for the freedom of their 
country were chased by these cruel pursuers. 
Then, later on, noblemen kept them to find out 
deer thieves; and still later they were used, as 
Uncle Si says, to hunt runaway slaves, both in 
the South and in other countries where slavery 
was admitted." 

"But we have no slaves now," persisted 
Fletcher. 

"No, but we still have wrongdoers, and 
bloodhounds are still kept by some men, mostly 
as a source of profit. They are kept at some 
penitentiaries, and woe to the fleeing convict 
upon whose track the bloodhounds are put!" 



HUNTING DOGS. 



"You don't mean to say that my grandfather 
kept fifty hounds just for fun, do you, Uncle 

Si?" 




THOROUGHBRED FOXHOUND. 

"In cose I does," replied the old darky. "I 
done tole yer dat yo' gran' pa wer' er gentermun, 
an' he keep dem dawgs t' 'muse hisse'f and his 
f ren's. Dere wuz er yaller boy, Tony, dat didn't 
do nuffin 'tall but 'ten' t' dem houn's, an' de cook 
she bake bread fur 'em jes lak she were er bakin' 
bread fur Giner'l Lee's army, an' I tell yer it 
tuk mighty nigh ez much t' do 'em. But law! 
law! dem good ole times is all gone; an' ebber- 
body dese days is atter money;" and the old 

(185) 



186 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

man sighed as he went off to dig sweet potatoes 
for dinner. 

"I want you to tell me about hunting dogs," 
said Fletcher to the Professor when the natural 
history hour arrived. " Uncle Si says my grand- 
father kept fifty hounds. What use did he have 
for so many?" 

"In the days of your grandfather," answered 
the Professor, "there were great numbers of 
foxes, deer, and all sorts of game in this coun- 
try, and gentlemen who could afford it kept 
large packs of dogs for hunting. There was the 
staghound, which has a scent almost as keen as 
the bloodhound. But the fleetest and most 
popular hound is the foxhound, and in England 
this dog has been brought to the greatest de- 
gree of perfection. Of course we see all sorts 
of mongrels called hounds, but the pure-bred 
foxhound is a beautiful dog, from twenty to 
twenty-two inches high at the shoulders, with 
smooth white hair clouded with black and tan. 

" 'How long can a foxhound run? 5 you ask. 
The longest run that I remember is ten hours at 
a stretch, and a tough foxhound will wear out 
two or three horses sometimes. A mile in two 
minutes is not at all uncommon when the hound 
is flushed with the chase." 

"I have seen a good deal about beagles and 
harriers in storybooks," said Fletcher. "Are 
they hunting dogs too?" 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 187 

"Yes. The harrier, as you might judge from 
the name, is a small hound used for hunting 
hares, and is more common in England than in 
America; and the beagle is still smaller than 
the harrier, being, indeed, the smallest hunting 
dog known.'' 

"You don't see many hounds now," said 
Fletcher. "Is that because the foxes and deer 
are nearly all killed?" 




THOROUGHBRED POINTER. 

"That is it exactly; the game to be hunted 
with hounds becomes more and more scarce 
every year. The few packs of hounds among us 
are kept by gentlemen of leisure who can afford 
to spend time and money for their own amuse- 
ment. But in England, where the gaine laws 
are very strict and where one landlord some- 
times owns many thousands of acres, and even 
whole counties, hounds are kept and trained 
to great perfection." 

' ' When Mr. Floyd came out to see father and 
to hunt last winter he had two beautiful dogs. 
One was a pointer, and the other a setter. Don't 



188 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



you think they were prettier than these long- 
eared hounds?" 

"I certainly do," assented the Professor. 
"Indeed, few dogs are so handsome or so intel- 
ligent as a fine setter. They belong to the 
spaniel family. What color was Mr. Floyd's 
setter?" 

"It was pure white, with large liver-colored 
spots." 





for ' ' 

THOROUGHBRED SETTER. 

"Yes, that is the true setter color, but I have 
seen some very fine dogs that were a reddish 
brown. Do you know why these dogs are called 
'setters?'" 

"Is it because they stop suddenly and crouch 
down when they see their game?" 

"That is it — just as the pointer gets his name 
from his habit of pointing. The pointer is 
thought to be a species of hound, and both point- 
ers and setters are used by sportsmen in bird- 
hunting, but rarely for other game." 



THE NEWFOUNDLAND. 



" Ob all de high-toned dawgs, de dawgs which 
am moh lak f olkes dan dawgs, de Newf oun'lan' he 
am de boss," said Uncle Si as he and Fletcher 
amused themselves, one rainy Saturday, looking 




PRINCE. 

over the pictures in a book of natural history. 
' ' When weuns libed in Firginny, oF mas' had de 
fines' one named Prince. I tell yer, chile, dat dog 
were jes ez much ob er human ez me 'n' you. 
Dere wan't a single low-down t'ing 'bout Prince, 
an' he were brave ez er lion. Effen ye leab 
sumpin' by 'im an' say, 'Watch dat, Prince,' he 
gwin'er die befo' he let ennerbody bodder it. 
But effen yer tendin' t' yer own bizness, and let 

(189) 



190 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

hissen 'lone, dere nebber were er moh peaceabel- 
ler ner yit er moh fr'en'lier dawg dan Prince. 
He jes' lak oP mas' — he ain' gwine fight lessen 
sumbody step on his toes, an' den yer bettah 
look out, man." 

"What color was Prince, Uncle Si?" asked 
Fletcher, who was never so happy as when he 
could get the old man started on some memory 
of the past. 

"He were black an' white jes' 'bout ekally 
diwided, an' yer ain' nebber seed no 'oman wid 
moh curlier, silkier ha'r dan Prince, an' he were 
mighty nigh three feet tall. 'Kin de Newfoun'- 
Ian' swim?' did yes say? Law, honey, he am er 
reg'lar duck in de wattah; an' effen yer'll 'zam- 
ine dere feet yer'll fin' dey is got webs. Lemme 
tell yer what happen one day, not long atter we 
got Prince. OP mas' had ernudder dawg, a 
great big yallerish mastiff named Nero. At dat 
time we libed on de James Ribber, an' dere were 
er bridge acrost hit not fur fum de house. 
Well, one day Prince he stood on dat bridge 
er gnawin' er bone, when Nero ma'ch up an' 
pitch inter 'im. Nero couldn' nebber indure de 
sight o' Prince, kase Nero were dere fust, an' 
he awful jealyous ob de new dawg; so he were 
alluz huntin' skuces ter fight. But when he 
bounce Prince dis time an' try t 1 take dat bone, 
I lay dere wuz a fight wuf seem'! Dey roll an' 



OUT AMOXG THE ANIMALS. 191 

dey fit tell finally dey clinch each udder an' roll 
smack dab inter de ribber. Yer bettah bleeb 
ol' Nero he let loose den! De Newfoun'lan' 
didn' no mo' min' dat ribber dan dat duck yan- 
der min' de puddles, but Nero couldn' no mo' 
swim dan er kitten wid a rock tied t' hits neck. 
Prince lite out fur de Ian' and lef ol' Nero 
splashin' an' sputterin' erroun'. By de time 
Prince got t' de bank Nero wuz mighty nigh pas' 
goin'. Prince stood on de bank an' gaze at 'im 
er flounderin' 'roun' in de ribber, an' — would 
you bleeb it? — dat Christian dawg he jump 
back inter de ribber an' swims to Nero, grabs 
'im by de collah, and brings him out, jes' lak 
yer is seen one boat bring ernudder boat out! 
Now dat's er fack, honey, an' atter dat ye neb- 
ber is seed one dawg lub ernudder dawg lak 
Nero lub Prince." 



A PRAIRIE DOG TOWN. 



"One of the queerest sights to be found in 
our wonderful West, where one sees so much 
that is strange and interesting," said Uncle Stu- 




THE PRAIRIE DOG. 

art as he and Fletcher walked by the riverside 
one day, "is a prairie dog town. Did you ever 
see the picture of one?" 
(192) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 193 

"No, sir, I never did; but I should certainly 
like to. Where do prairie dogs come from?" 

"They are found in the prairies east of the 
Rocky Mountains and also in Europe, but I 
speak of the American species. I remember 
that when I first traveled through the West 
I saw a collection of queer little mounds dot- 
ted about in village fashion, and I asked a 
friend if they were Indian mounds. He laughed 
at me, and replied, 'No, indeed; that is a 
prairie dog town;' and I was so much inter- 
ested that I stopped and examined it carefully. 
On the prairies where the buffalo grass grows 
tall great numbers of prairie dogs will collect 
and decide upon a settlement. You would 
never guess, to see the little earth mounds, that 
they extend twelve or fourteen feet under the 
ground, and here these strange little mound 
builders live. They must be something like 
people in their tastes; for there are paths run- 
ning from one burrow to another, so that, like 
the rest of us, they can go calling upon their 
neighbors." 

"Do they stay down in those burrows all the 
time?" asked Fletcher. 

"No, indeed; each burrow has its watch tow- 
er, which is made by throwing up the earth in a 
mound at the entrance of the burrow. One of 
the funniest sights imaginable is when hundreds 
13 



194 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

of these little animals mount oheir towers and 
bask in the sunlight or play about as they pre- 
fer. But let one of them utter the queer barking 
sound that alone causes them to be called 
'dogs,' and away they all scamper into their 
holes, for they know that danger is near." 

"Do they look like dogs, uncle?" 

"Not at all; and they are not dogs — do not 
even belong to the canine family. Their scien- 
tific name is marmot, and they belong to the 
great squirrel family." 

"What do they eat?" was the listener's next 
question. 

"They live mainly on the prairie grass and 
its roots. There is one peculiar thing about 
these prairie dogs that I must tell you: wherever 
you find them you find great numbers of owls 
and rattlesnakes." 

"Do they like each other?" 

"One would suppose so from the fact of their 
living together. But those who have studied 
the matter say that this close communion is any- 
thing but peaceful. The rattlesnake likes to 
utilize the burroughs of the prairie dog as a res- 
idence, and he also considers young prairie 
dogs a very great delicacy. I do not know 
why the owl chooses these burrows for a home, 
unless it be his well-known fondness for gloomy 
places. Perhaps you had better ask Uncle Si 
about that, as he is authority on these birds of 
evil omen." 



WEARING THE ERMINE. 

The boys were all getting their overcoats, and 
it was quite a fad with them to have them 
trimmed with fur. So Fletcher raised the ques- 
tion as to what sort of fur would be "the 
thing." His mother laughed outright when he 




THE ERMINE. 

said: "Why not have my overcoat trimmed with 
ermine? Is not that a nice fur?" 

"It is a very nice fur, but I don't believe you 
would consider it the proper thing for a boy's 
overcoat. How did you happen to think of er- 
mine?" 

"Well, I have read about 'wearing the er- 
mine,' and all that, and I thought it must be 
rather a c swell' fur, or you would not see so 
much about it." 

"You did not know that a long time ago, in 
the reign of Edward III., no one but members 
of the royal family were permitted to wear er- 
mine." 

(195) 



196 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

"They were not? Well, I'd like io see any- 
body say I should not wear whatever I chose to 
if I had the money to pay for it!" exclaimed 
Fletcher, with true American pluck. 

His mother smiled and said: "Of course 
you feel that way about it now; but perhaps if 
you had lived in those days, when people thought 
their king was next to their God, you would 
have thought differently. After the days of 
Edward ermine became a sort of badge of au- 
thority, and it now enters into nearly all state 
robes. Sometimes you can even judge of the 
rank and position of the wearer by the disposi- 
tion of the black spots. But, if you think you 
would like to 'wear the ermine,' I shall show 
you some, that you may see how you would like 
to have your overcoat trimmed with it." 

Mrs. Beaumont brought forth a muff and tip- 
pet, upon beholding w T hich Fletcher's face was 
a picture of surprise. "Why," he exclaimed, 
"the stuff is white! Wouldn't the boys guy me 
if I should come out in that rig? Where does 
that fur come from, mother?" 

"It is the fur of a little, long animal that be- 
longs to the same family as the weasel. In all 
its habits, its food, shape, and manners, it is 
very much like our weasel. But the ermine is 
pure white in winter, except that the tip 'of its 
tail is jet-black." 



OUT AMONG THE AXIMALS. 197 

"I remember all about it now, and I don't 
see how I could forget that white fur with the 
black spots." 

'"But the spots don't grow on the body; it is 
only the tail that is black. And this black fur 
is used by the furriers as an ornament to the 
pure white. But the ermine is not white in 
summer: it is reddish brown above, and white 
beneath its body.*' 

"Does it shed its fur?" asked Fletcter. 

"Xo, but it changes to white in winter. That 
is a great protection to it in Siberia and the 
snowy countries where ermine is mostly found. 
The hunters cannot see it so well as if it were 
dark-colored. But it does not shed its dark 
summer clothes for its winter coat of white: the 
dark ones appear only to bleach out. Here is 
the picture of an ermine. Does it not look 
snaky, with its long, slim body and short limbs? 
It is a fighter, too, and makes its living by mur- 
dering rats and other smaller animals. It fas- 
tens itself to the throat of its victim, and no 
amount of struo-o'lmo; -will cause it to turn loose. 
It is so agile and bold that many people call it 
the 'stoat,' which means 'bold.' Indeed, it is 
generally called stoat during the summer, when 
it has on its dark clothes; and when it comes out 
in its snowy garb in winter people call it the er- 
mine. And many persons think the stoat is a 



198 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



different animal from the ermine. Do you think 
now that you would like to have your overcoat 
trimmed with ermine?" 

"Not until I get to be a supreme judge," 
said Fletcher, laughing. 



FLETCHER GOES "POSSUM-HUNTDs'." 

Christmas day was near at hand. Pompous 
turkey cocks in the barnyard gobbled ominous- 
ly, as if they knew Christmas was no friend to 




POSSUM WITH HER YOUNG IN POUCH. 

them. Uncle Si heard them, and chuckled in- 
wardly. ' ' Nebber yer niin', " said he, ' ' yer may 
talk 'bout yo' tukkeys an' yo' iyster stuffin'; but I 
knows er trick wuff two o' dat. Gimme er good 
fat possum, wid plenty o' sweet taters an' ash- 
cake walloped in de graby, an' yer may keep all 
yo' tukkeys. Dat 'mill's me I prommus dat chile 
we gwine possum-huntin' t'night, an' yander he 

(199) 



200 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

comes now. I lay he ain' gwine disremember 
dat." 

"Is ebber yer notice," said Uncle Si, as he and 
Fletcher and Snuff (Uncle Si's latest canine fa- 
vorite) wended their way to the woods, "is eb- 
ber yer notice whar de ol' possum kyar her lit- 
tle uns?" 

"Yes, indeed," said Fletcher; "she carries 
them in her pouch. That's because she belongs 
to the Marsupialia, or pouched animals, Uncle 
Si." 

"I dunno nuffin 'bout yo' 'supyals,' said Un- 
cle Si, with a somewhat disdainful sniff; "I jes' 
call 'em pouches, an' I ain' nebber seed no pur- 
tier sight dan er whole gang er little possums 
stickin' dere heads outen dat pouch. An' is 
yer ebber notice dat er possum use hits tail 
mos' ez much ez hits feet in climbin' trees? 
Sometimes when de little possums gits tired o' 
bein' shet up in dere mammy's pouch dey lite 
on 'er back, she fling up her tail, an' dey wrop 
dere little tails roun' hern an' ride 'long ez hap' 
py ez yer please." 

"All possums do not have pouches, Uncle 
Si (so my natural history says), but the Vir- 
ginia possum — that's ours — has. Then in Mex- 
ico there is a kind of possum no bigger than a 
mouse, and it is bright red in color. Then they 
have striped possums in Brazil." 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 201 

"I dunno 'bout no sawt o' possum but dat 
big gray grizzly feller wid his long slick tail an' 
dem oP claws o' hissen. Dat oP gray possum, I 
tell yer, man, he's a bad un ter tackle, an' I's seen 
'em fight when dey gits a good den in er holler 
lawg till dey just pintedly wear de dawgs out. 
Possums ain't no fren's to little chickens an' 
birds; dey'll suck dere blood, but dey doan eat 
de meat. But mos' gin'rally dey libs on bugs an' 
sich, an' when dey wants a little dessick dey 
takes de fruits an' berries and all sawts o' roots." 

"Did you ever see a possum in town?" asked 
Fletcher. 

"Law, no, chile. I 'lowed dey feared t' git 
inter de towns." 

"I've often heard father tell about a couple of 
possums that came every night on the roof of 

his boarding house when he was in N in the 

Legislature. He said at first he thought they 
were cats, and threw things at them, but one 
bright moonlight night he found that they were 
possums. He says they would sit there for 
hours, and he never bothered them. I asked 
the Professor about it, and he said that possums 
were really good scavengers, and" — 

Just then Snuff stopped short under an im- 
mense sweet gum tree and began to bark and go 
through all sorts of "monkey motions." 

Uncle Si cried out in delight, "He's treed 
'im!" and for the next half hour a single lone 
possum on the topmost branch was of more inter- 
est to Uncle Si and Fletcher than all the wis- 
dom that the Professor could impart. 



HARE AND RABBIT. 

"Instead of your regular lesson for next 
Monday," said the Professor to Fletcher, as he 




THE HARE. 



closed his natural history one Friday evening, 
"I will let you make some investigation on your 
own account. As we have found out something 
about dogs, you may write a composition on the 
hare and the rabbit, showing their points of 
likeness and unlikeness." 

"Why I thought rabbits and hares were the 
same animals, and that hare was just a sort of 
dressed up, Sunday name for rabbit," replied 
Fletcher. 

(202) 



OUT AMO^G THE ANIMALS. 203 

"Yes, that, I believe, is the common idea; but 
you may look into the question between now and 
Monday, and give me the result." 

So Fletcher went to the library and examined 




THE RABBIT. 



a number of very wise-looking books, and this is 
the composition which he handed the Professor 
the next Monday morning: 

"The Hare and the Rabbit. 

"Uncle Si has always told me that a hare was 
'nuffin' but er rabbit wid er 'ristercratical name 
stuck on to 'im,' but I find that Uncle Si and I 
have both been wrong on this point. While 
hares and rabbits belong to the same family of 
rodents, or gnawing animals, yet they are differ- 
ent in many respects. 

"The hare is a larger animal than the rabbit, 
has a longer head, ears, and feet; but the rab- 
bit has longer, sharper claws. The rabbit is a 



204 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

clean, gray color, but the coat of the hare has a 
yellowish tinge, which sometimes changes in 
very cold climates to a pure white in winter. The 
rabbit has no black tip to its ears, as the hare 
always has. But the greatest difference in these 
animals is seen in their habits. The hare does 
not live in burrows, but makes a small depres- 
sion in the ground which the hunters call its 
'form,' and here it will lie so closely pressed to 
the earth that it can hardly be distinguished 
from the dried grass and leaves. The young of 
the hare are born with their eyes open and their 
bodies well covered with fur, but the poor little 
rabbits come into the world naked and blind. 
So the rabbit makes a little house for itself 
sometimes in the ground, sometimes in the 
trunk of a dead and fallen tree, and these 
houses we call 'burrows.' Here the mother 
takes care of the young rabbits until they are 
able to shift for themselves. 

"Both rabbits and hares stay very close at 
home during the day, and go out at night for 
food, which is usually some sort of leaves or 
vegetables. I have heard farmers complain that 
rabbits injure their crops, and I know they ate 
Uncle Si's young cabbages this spring. 

"Both rabbits and hares are timid and afraid 
of man, but are easily tamed, and 'tame rab- 
bits' make lovely pets for girls, but I do not 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 205 

think they are so interesting to boys as coons or 
foxes. 

"Rabbits and hares are found in nearly all 
parts of the world, and there are from thirty- 
five to forty different species scattered over the 
globe." 



THE SHIP OF THE DESERT. 



Uncle Si had always been something of a 
student of natural history, in his simple, home- 
ly way, and his talks with Fletcher had greatly 
increased his fondness for such studies. He 




THE BACTRIAN CAMEL. 

would come into the schoolroom upon the pre- 
text of "punchin' up de nah" and listen with 
rapt attention as the Professor talked to his pu- 
pils about the wonderful creatures in the world 
about us. The Professor loved to gratify the 
old darky's curiosity, and encouraged him to 
ask questions. 

One day Uncle Si set down his coal scuttle 
and glanced at the open book in Fletcher's 
(206) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 207 

hand. ' ' What am de name o' dat or'nary-lookiu ' 
critter?" he asked, as the Professor looked up 
with an encouraging smile. 
"That is a camel, Uncle Si." 




ARABIAN CAMEL. 

"Tell us about it, won't you?" interposed 
Fletcher. 

"Am dey good ter eat?" asked Uncle Si, 
whose ideas of the value of an animal were 
greatly influenced by its edibility. 

"I have never tasted it, but those who have 
tried it declare that the flesh of a young camel 
is as good as veal. Camel's milk is also sweet 
and nourishing, but it cannot be turned into but- 
ter." 



208 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

"Whah yer fin' dem cammils, Puffesser," 
asked Uncle Si, as if lie would like to purchase 
one. 

"In Asia, a country far over the sea, the 
country where the things spoken of in the Bible 
happened. Don't you remember about John 
the Baptist's raiment of camel's hair? That is 
the very same kind of animal that we are talk- 
ing about. Camels have been known as long as 
the world has had a history." 

"But," suggested Fletcher, "I see one of 
these camels has two humps on his back, and the 
other has only one." 

"Yes; the one with the single hump is the 
Arabian camel; the other, with two humps, is 
called the Bactrian camel. Some people call 
the one-humped camel the dromedary; but real- 
ly the dromedary is nothing but a slenderer 
and a fleeter breed of camel. It will travel one 
hundred miles a day if necessary, while twenty- 
five miles is considered a very good day's jour- 
ney for a loaded camel." 

"What de good o' dem cammils?" inquired 
Uncle Si. "Why doan dem Asher folks use 
hosses and mules, lak we does?" 

"Well, Uncle Si, that is a very dry, sandy 
country, full of what we call deserts, where, 
there is neither water nor anything green. 
Horses would soon die in the long, hot marches; 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 209 

but God has given the camel a stomach full of 
cells where water can be stored away. These 
cells are something like the cells in a honey- 
comb, only, of course, much larger. Then the 
hump on the camel's back is nothing but roll upon 
roll of fat; and if he can get no food on the 
long, desert march, 'he lives on his fat,' as you 
would say about the possums and the coons. 
And the camel will thrive on bits of dry grass 
and shrubs which nothing else will eat; and, 
in addition, it can carry across the deserts such 
burdens as would stagger the stoutest pack 
mule that you ever saw." 

"I dunno, sah, 'bout dat. Our ol' Pomp is 
mighty hard ter stagger," said Uncle Si, am- 
bling off. 
14 



THE SLOTH. 

There is a funny little animal in South 
America whose very name tells its habits; and, 
no matter if the poor little sloth should be very 
spry indeed, I fear its bad reputation would 
cling to it still. Like some people, it seems 
even too lazy to do any harm; and if it has 
enough to eat and a place to sleep, the sloth is 
about as happy as a sloth can ever be. 

Among the noisy, chattering apes and mon- 
keys of the South American forests the droning, 
slow-moving sloths creep around undisturbed 
and un disturbing. They are large as monkeys, 
with long, rather shaggy hair, a little, stumpy 
tail, and sharp, clinging claws. They cannot 
leap and play among the branches as do mon- 
keys; their tails are too short to hang by. So 
when a sloth wants to take a journey of a few 
feet, which to it is a long way, it grasps the 
limbs of the tree with its sharp claws and creeps 
along as best it can. Sometimes a sloth will 
go to sleep hanging by its legs to the limb 
of a tree, and it will sleep that way for hours, 
seemingly unconscious of discomfort. Like the 
"fat boy" in the "Pickwick Papers," the sloth 
is ready in season and out of season to go to 
(210) 




THE SLOTH. 



(211) 



212 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

sleep, and nothing but hunger ever seems to 
interfere with its slumbers. Of all animals, 
it is the most strictly arboreal — that is, lives 
more entirely in trees. Its limbs are of un- 
equal length, and its feet formed so that it 
can rest only on the outer edge of them. Thus 
it is very hard for this animal to get over even 
a very few feet of level surface. Only think of 
traveling three yards an hour! Yet this is the 
very best the sloth can do when it ventures 
down from the branches to which it clings 
with its sharp, curving claws. But here, as 
in all else, the wisdom and kindness of God 
are shown. As this animal is not fitted to get 
for itself other food than the trees afford, it 
is a vegetarian, and thrives among the leafy 
branches, where a carnivorous animal would 
starve. But when kept in captivity it learns to 
eat other things, and seems to partake of bread 
and milk as contentedly as any girl or boy in the 
land. 

There is one thing we should not forget about 
this quadruped sloth: it cannot get about any 
better than it does. But two-legged sloths, who 
have supple limbs and elastic muscles which they 
are too indolent to use — just what should be 
done with them is a problem I have not solved 
yet. 



THE ARMADILLO. 

"Cousin Sloth is right," said the great ar- 
madillo as he gazed at his own image reflected 
in the clear water of a stream in South Amer- 
ica. "I am not handsome; but I do think, for 




THE ARMADILLO. 

all that, I am a very wonderful animal, and de- 
serve more notice than I get. Indeed, I think 
my family has many advantages over some 
others I could mention." And the armadillo 
looked contemptuously up at a monkey that 
had just thrown a nut, which rattled against the 
armadillo's bony case. 

"Our family name is Edentata" he went on, 
when he found the monkey was listening; "but 
I don't care much about that, for it means with- 
out teeth, when the fact of the business is we 
have very good teeth — only the front teeth are 
wanting. But the others have no aching roots, 
and just grow on and on as fast as we wear 

(213) 



214 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

them out. Now, isn't that an advantage?" 
And the monkey, who had had a severe spell 
of toothache the week before, said he thought 
it was. 

That put the armadillo in a good humor, and 
he went on quite proudly: "Then look at my 
fine claws, five of them on each foot, and you 
can't begin to tell how useful they are! With 
my long, tough snout and my strong claws I 
can get a living anywhere; for if no fruit nor 
insects are to be found, I can just grabble down 
to the roots of a tree or shrub and make a fine 
meal from that!" 

"How about your going into the graves and 
eating the bodies of the dead?" asked the mon- 
key with a little chuckle that the armadillo did 
not fancy. 

"Who says that we do that?" he asked. 
"I've heard travelers say so, and, the fact is, 
I'm rather fond of going to funerals myself, and 
I've seen them put double rows of planks 
around the grave deep in the ground, to keep 
the bodies from being scratched up by " — 

"That's all a slander," broke in the armadil- 
lo; but he changed the subject so quickly that 
the monkey had his own ideas about the matter. 
"Just look at my fine coat of mail!" he ex- 
claimed very briskly. "A bullet would rattle 
off that just like it would off a rock. I've a 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 215 

cousin, the ball armadillo, and when he rolls 
himself up you would never suspect there was a 
living creature in his case." 

"Why don't you come out and have a good 
time in the day, as I do?'' asked the monkey. 
I notice you are rarely ever seen in the daylight, 
but prowl at night. My mammy says honest 
folks are never afraid of the day.'' 

"I am not afraid of it either!" said the arma- 
dillo with spirit; but as a family we have rather 
small, weak eyes, and that's the reason we find 
it more pleasant to travel around at night. And 
there's another thing. These South Americans 
have found out that there is nothing nicer than 
a fat armadillo roasted in its shell, and that's 
another reason why our family have to keep 
themselves rather scarce in the daytime. Of 
course no one would eat a roasted monkey, so 
you have nothing to fear on that line." And 
with this parting shot the armadillo trotted off 
and disappeared in the dense Brazilian forest. 



THE PORCUPINE. 

"Atter all, dere am' so much diifunce in hu- 
mans an' dumb brutes ez yer mout s'pose," said 
Uncle Si meditatively. "Now dere's oF Brud- 




THE PORCUPINE. 

der Pomp; he's jes zackly lak er mule; 'deed, 
he done ack mulish tel he p'intedly look lak 
one. Den, ergin, dere's Brudder Zeke; he am 
de berry pattern ob er pawkypine. Ebber time 
yer com' er nigh 'im yer 'speckin' dem quills to 
pop out, ready t' stick in yer. Not dat I'se 
eny objection to folks habin' quills, but dey 
mus'n' fetch 'em out 'pon all 'casions. Is yer 
ebber see er pawkypine, honey?" Uncle Si con- 
tinued, as Fletcher entered and seated him- 
self upon the foot of the old man's bed. 
(216) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 2 17 

"I've seen them in shows, but I was never 
"very close to one. How large are they, Uncle 
Si?" 

"'Bout so long," said Uncle Si, measuring 
about twenty-seven inches on his cane. "But 
hit ain't hes length nur yet hes bridth dat mak' 
de pawkypine so noterble. When yer light yer 
eye on 'im at er distunce yer say: 'Dat little 
feller 'pear lak he's civil ernuff.' But jes' wait 
er minnit tel yer gits er little closter, an' bless 
yo' bones, honey, dat critter dun spraid out an' 
stick out tell he look ez big ez de side o' de 
house. Why, man, I'se tuk some o' dem quills 
an' mejered 'em, an' effen dey wa'n't fifteen 
inches long dey wa'n't nary un! An' ter see 
dat little feller roll hisse'f inter er ball, wid de 
squills stickin' ebber way for Sunday, yer'd jes 
erbout ez soon tackle er prickly pear ez Mas' 
Pawkypine. He libs in holes an' rocks, and 
burrers sort o' lak rabbits, an' all dat; an' he 
doan trabel roun much 'ceptin' at night. But 
law! here come de Puffesser, an' dis ol' niggah 
better hush hes gab." 

"Not by any means, Uncle Si," said the Pro- 
fessor, who was out for a walk, and wanted 
Fletcher to join him. "I enjoy getting your 
ideas very much. You have taught me a great 
many things. Was it the porcupine that you 
and Fletcher were discussing?" 



218 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

"Yes sah, dat am de gentermun. " 
"Do either of you know that the word 
'porcupine 5 comes from two French words 
meaning 'spiny pig? 5 They are what we call 
rodents, or gnawing animals, and are akin to 
rats, mice, squirrels, and many others. There 
are a good many varieties of porcupine, but the 
one most familiar to us is the common porcu- 
pine, which is a short, heavy-built animal with 
a stubby tail, and is covered with long hairs, 
nearly hiding its spines. What are called ' Old 
World 5 porcupines live entirely on the ground; 
but many 'New World," or American, porcu- 
pines live in trees, and have long tails that 
look very much like the tails of monkeys. In 
South America there are eight or ten different 
varieties of tree porcupines, and some of them 
extend as far north as Mexico. If you will cut 
the quill of a porcupine, you will find that it is 
either hollow or is filled with a spongy tissue 
such as is called 'pith. 555 



THE LION. 

"Uxcle Si, can you tell me anything about 
the lion? ' asked Fletcher one morning as the 




the lion. 

old darky gave the finishing touches to the 
schoolroom. 

"Now yer done hopt erpas' dis oP nigger, 
an 5 yer knows hit bery well, littP mas'. When 
hit comes t' possums and coons an' sich I's at 
home; but when yer gits ermong dem wiP 
beastes yer'll hatter ax some o' de high-larnt 
folkes. I jes' know dat de lion am alluz called 
de king o' beastes. De Scripter talk er heaps 

(219) 



220 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

'bout lions; but I 'low de Puffesser kin tell 
yer all yer want t' know and a sight more'n 
yer kin 'member, fur de Puffesser he am er 
walkin' bookshunery," with which tribute to the 
Professor's abilities Uncle Si gave the fire a 
poke and left for the more congenial realm of 
the kitchen. 

"So we shall find out something about the 
'king of beasts' to-day ? shall we?" said the 
Professor with that genial manner which at . 
once set his pupils at ease. " I have sometimes 
thought that the tiger might dispute this king- 
ship, for he is sometimes even larger and more 
powerful than the lion." 

"They belong to the same family, don't 
they?" asked Fletcher. 

"Yes, the great family called Felidce, from 
which comes our word c feline.' The internal 
structure of all the Felidce, from the monstrous 
lion to the tiny kitten, is very much the same. 
The lion is, above all other things, a beast of 
prey, and from his cruel claws to his sharp, 
strong teeth the object of his being would seem 
to be to seize and hold the weaker animals; and 
yet he does not usually attack his victims open- 
ly, but hides himself in a thicket near the spot 
where the weaker animals come to drink, and 
with one prodigious bound he pounces upon 
them." 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 221 

"Are lions found only in Africa?" Fletcher 
asked. 

"Besides in Africa, lions are found in Meso- 
potamia, in Persia, and even in some parts of In- 
dia. Could we go back before the Christian era, 
we should find that lions ranged nearly all over 
the then known world; but so deadly is the en- 
mity between him and man that so fast as a re- 
gion is inhabited this king of the forest has 
been exterminated." 

"Do they hate and try to kill other lions?" 

"No; unless some rivalry among the males 
should arise, troops of lions will sometimes 
hunt together on terms of good fellowship. 
But if his anger is aroused, the lion is a relent- 
less foe, and a male lion has been known to 
turn upon and devour his own mate when the 
carcass they had captured was not sufficient to 
satisfy his hunger." 

"How contemptible!" exclaimed Fletcher. 

"Yes, decidedly so, and yet the lion seems to 
be upon the whole a faithful husband. He re- 
mains with his mate while the cubs are young, 
and helps to provide food for them and to teach 
them how to get on in life." 

"Just like a big robber would teach a little 
robber to kill and rob," said Fletcher, who had 
the greatest contempt for all things low, mean, 
and cruel. 



222 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

"Only with this difference: the lion simply 
obeys a blind impulse of his nature in preying 
upon the weak, and has no knowledge of a bet- 
ter way; while the robber might, but will not, 
fill a nobler destiny." 



THE ELEPHANT. 

"I think, for my part," said Fletcher, "that 
the elephant is a more interesting animal than 
the lion; and if I had named them, I should have 
called him the 'king of beasts."' 




THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT. 



" I quite agree with you," said the Professor. 
"Indeed, there are several animals that might 
dispute his kingship with Sir Lion. The ele- 
phant is larger, the tiger is more savage and 
fierce, and the leopard is more beautiful. To 
me the elephant has always been a peculiarly 
interesting study. Ages ago there were many 
species of elephant, but all these are now extinct 
except the African and the Asiatic." 

"What is the difference between them?" 
asked Fletcher. 

(223) 



224 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

"The African elephant is larger than the 
Asiatic, and its ears are enormous, making a 
perfect cape over the shoulders when thrown 
back. It has heavier tusks, and these belong 
to both sexes; but only the males have tusks in 
the Asiatic elephant.'' 

"What are elephants good for?" asked 
Fletcher, who always wanted to know the uses 
to which animals could be put. 




THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 

"They are good for many things. Think of 
the value of the ivory which is obtained from 
their tusks! It is said that England alone im- 
ports nearly a million and a half pounds of ivory 
every year, and that thirty thousand elephants are 
killed to obtain this. Then, the natives of Af- 
rica hunt the elephant for its flesh, which they 
greatly esteem as an article of food. In Asia 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 225 

the elephant is used for domestic purposes and 
as a beast of burden, its great strength and do- 
cility making it very valuable. In olden times 
elephants were used in wars. Wooden towers 
were fastened upon their backs, and under cover 
of these the archers aimed their shafts; but the 
use of firearms has about done away with ele- 
phants as an aid to warriors. 

"How are elephants caught? It seems to 
me it would be very hard to get such powerful 
animals." 

"Sometimes a single male elephant is caught 
by using a tame female as a decoy; but when 
the hunters desire to capture a whole herd they 
construct a huge corral in the heart of the for- 
est, with an opening on one side. Hundreds of 
'beaters' encircle the haunts of the elephants, 
and they are gradually driven toward the cor- 
ral. Fires are built in all directions except on 
the entrance to the corral. Then, with a great 
noise and din, the c beaters' rush upon the half- 
crazed elephants, who can see no other way of 
escape; so they flee toward the corral, which is 
soon closed up with the trunks of trees, etc., 
and the elephants are captives." 

"Dear me! I should think an elephant hunt 

would be fine sport!" exclaimed Fletcher, in 

whose veins ran the blood of many generations 

of hunters. "Is it true, Professor, that white 

15 



226 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

elephants are worshiped in India?" It seems 
to me that I have read this." 

"No; they are not exactly worshiped, but 
they are regarded with a veneration akin to 
worship. A white elephant is regarded as a 
necessary adjunct to royalty, and ranks next to 
the queen. In the sixteenth century long wars 
were waged between Siam and other States be- 
cause each wanted to possess a certain white el- 
ephant, and while they were warring over this 
elephant five kings were killed." 



HIPPOPOTAMUS. 

"Umph!" exclaimed Uncle Si as the Profess- 
or opened the natural history at the picture of 
a huge, unwieldly beast, "now sho' yo' is a cau- 
tion! I 'lowed dat oP rhinocehoss were ugly 
ernuff, but dis un takes de cake. What yer call 
him, Puffesser?" 




THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 

"This is a hippopotamus, Uncle Si. Don't 
you like his looks?" 

"Law no, Puffesser; dere ain' nuffin' Hall 
'bout dat critter ter niak' er body tak' er likin' 
t' 'im." 

Just then Fletcher entered, and, catching the 
last of Uncle Si's remarks, said: "Maybe if 
you would tell us something about the ugly 

(227) 



^O OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

brute we should find that he is more interesting 
than he looks. Won't you try, Professor?" 

"Well," began the Professor, "the hippopot- 
amus is not a very handsome animal, but, for 
all that, he is very interesting and very useful. 
The hippopotamus is found only in Africa; so 
you ought not to find fault with him, Uncle Si; 
he's from your country." 

"None o' my kentry; no, 'ndeed," said Uncle 
Si with decision. "I am' no Guinny nigger! 
I'se fum oP Firginny,,! is, an' b'longed t' de 
fus' famblies, too. So I am' gwine'r claim kin 
wid dat ugly brute. Why, his littP oP laigs 
ain' no longer'n yer finger, an his haid's bigger'n 
his body." 

"Yes, he is not at all handsome, Uncle Si; 
he is large and ungainly in the last degree. 
Sometimes a huge specimen will measure fully 
fourteen feet from the mouth to the tip of the 
tail. It is about five feet high, and its measure 
around its girth is as much as its entire length. 
Its small ears work constantly in its efforts to 
hear distant sounds. Its legs are so short that 
it looks nearly as if it were on the ground, and 
its feet are so small that it seems as if they 
would not be able to support its heavy body." 

"Are they dangerous?" asked Fletcher. 

"Not at all, unless they are wounded or 
their young are in danger. Then they fight with 



OUT AMONG THE AXTMALS. 229 

a fierceness that knows no bounds. They are 
always found in herds near water, and pass 
most of the day in water. Then at night 
they come out to find food, and woe betide the 
fields which they enter! What they do not 
devour they trample with their heavy bodies, 
and in order to protect their fields the people 
along the banks of the Kile build great fires to 
scare them away. They cannot live away from 
the water, and it is astonishing to see how ex- 
pertly their great unwieldly bodies can dive and 
sport in the water." 

"What de critters good for?" asked Uncle 
Si, who thought that everything and every- 
body ought to be "good for" something. 

"Well, the flesh is very delicate and nice to 
eat, and is much sought after for the table. 
The fatty matter between the skin and the 
muscles is one of the best of animal fats, and 
the skin makes good whips, while the tusks 
and some of the teeth used to be much used in 
the manufacture of artificial teeth. It used to 
be an easy matter to find whole herds of these 
animals in Africa; but wherever the country is 
opened up they are pursued by man, and now 
they are becoming scarce. Several varieties are 
known to have once existed that now are no- 
where found, and we may live to see the day 
when a hippopotamus is a thing of the past." 



THE KANGAROO. 

"How large is a kangaroo, Professor?" asked 
Fletcher, as he opened the book and disclosed 
the picture of the ungainly animal. 

"The kangaroo varies in size from that of a 
sheep down to a small rabbit. When iirst 
born the kangaroo is the most immature and im- 
perfect of animals, even the young of what is 
called the great kangaroo not being much more 
than an inch long. They are blind, naked, and 
helpless." 

"Where in the world do the poor little things 
stay?" asked Fletcher in astonishment. 

"They stay in the mother's pouch, for, like 
our opossum, the kangaroo belongs to the Mar- 
supialia. You remember what they are?" 

"O yes; they are animals that have pouches 
in which to carry their young," promptly re- 
plied Fletcher, who rarely forgot anything he 
had once learned; "but kangaroos do not live 
in America, do they, Professor?" 

"No; they belong to Australia and Tasma- 
nia. The first were found by Capt. Cook in 
1770, and these animals were so different from 
any he had ever seen that he killed several and 
brought back their skins with him. They were 
(230) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 231 

called 'kanguroo' by the natives, and we have 
kept the name, only changing the spelling 
slightly. As you say, the kangaroo is an ugly, 
ungainly creature. Its head seems entirely too 
small for the rest of its body, and tapers for- 
ward to the nose. The shoulders and fore limbs 
are poorly developed and lacking in strength. 




THE KANGAROO. 

The hind limbs are laro-e and strong: .and seeni- 
ingly out of all" proportion. So, instead of 
going along on its 'all fours, 5 as we say of oth- 
er quadrupeds, the kangaroo usually gets over 
ground by a series of immense bounds." 

"How do they manage when they want to 



232 OUT AMONG THE) ANIMALS, 

stop?" asked Fletcher. I should think, with 
their little, short fore legs, and their big, long 
hind legs, they would tumble heels over head." 

"So they would if they relied on their fore 
limbs for support; but, instead of that, they 
stand almost erect on their hind legs, support- 
ed by their large, strong tail." 

"On what do kangaroos live?" inquired 
Fletcher with interest. 

"They are strict vegetarians, and sometimes 
the smaller varieties feed on roots. They are 
hunted by the natives for food; and the colo- 
nists too make war upon them, for they destroy 
the grass which is needed for the vast flocks of 
sheep in Australia." 

"Are there many kinds of kangaroo?" 

"Yes; there are various animals belonging 
to this class. They differ somewhat in shape, 
in teeth, and, as I said at first, they differ great- 
ly in size; but they all resemble each other in 
their awkward, ungainly form and queer mode 
of locomotion. Then, too, there is a rat known 
as a kangaroo rat, which has no pouch, but oth- 
erwise looks exactly like a true kangaroo." 



THE BEAR. 

"As the chestnuts interfered with our bears, 
we had better resume the subject to-day," said 
the Professor the day after he and Fletcher had 
gone chestnuting, "Here we have our books, 




THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 

and we will enjoy discussing the different varie- 
ties when we have their pictures before us. 
This is a fine fellow. Can you tell me his 
name?" asked the teacher as he displayed the 
picture of a large white bear attacking a waL 
rus. 

"That is the polar bear," said Fletcher with- 
out a moment's hesitation; " I know him well. 5 * 

(233) 



234 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



"Yes, this polar or white bear is the only 
species of sea bear known. If you could see 
the soles of its feet, you would notice that they 
are well protected with close -growing hair. 
This is a great help to it in walking on the 
slippery ice. This is the largest bear known. 
Sometimes it is nearly ten feet long and weighs 
over fifteen hundred pounds." 




THE BROWN BEAR. 



"They live on fish, don't they?" asked 
Fletcher. 

"Yes, on fish, seals, and the dead bodies 
of whales and even birds. But that this bear 
can exist without meat is proved by the fact 
that one was fed in confinement for two years 
on bread alone. But in the arctic regions, 
from whence these bears come, they need the 
heat that comes from eating animal food, as 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 235 

they often walk about for days on solid ice. They 
are great swimmers, and do not hesitate to go 
far away from the shore." 

"Uncle Stuart told me that he had killed 
several grizzly bears in the Rocky Mountains," 
said Fletcher. 

"Yes, the grizzly is no doubt the most cruel 
as well as the strongest of all American ani- 
mals. Think of a bear so fierce and strong 
that it can carry off a bison weighing over a 
thousand pounds!" 

"What color is it?" asked Fletcher. 

"Usually a yellowish-brown, and its coarse, 
grizzled fur has no commercial value." 

"Is its flesh good for food?" 

"No; even the Indians refuse to eat the flesh 
of the grizzly, while they consider other meat a 
great delicacy." 

Now we will turn to this picture of the 
brown bear. Of all land bears, this is the most 
common and the most useful, as there is hardly 
any portion of its body but is turned to account 
by the people of the regions where it dwells. 
From Spain to Japan the brown bear is found; 
and this is the variety used in the bear-baiting 
of which you read." 

"Is that the same kind of bear that we see 
traveling over the country and that dances so 
funny on its hind legs?" asked Fletcher. 



236 6TJT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

"Yes, sometimes. These bears are not sav- 
age like the grizzlies, but will fight bravely 
when attacked. The bear does not kill its vic- 
tim with a blow of its paw, like a cat, nor seize 
it in its teeth, like a dog, but squeezes it until 
life is extinct. Then, here you see the Ameri- 
can black bear, which, owing to its fine, soft 
fur, is greatly sought after. The Indians hold 
this bear in the greatest reverence, and rarely 
kill it. Bears are passionately fond of honey, 
and there is one variety called the honey bear, 
which comes from India, and is often seen in 
company with Hindoo jugglers. But our hour 
is gone, and there is still much left to tell about 
bears." 



THE GIRAFFE FAMILY. 

Ox the sandy plains of Africa, amid luxurious 
thickets of mimosa trees, in peace and freedom 
dwelt a happy, liberty-loving family. There 
were the mother, father, and four children, who 
were the joy and pri'de of their parents' hearts. 
The father was about fifteen feet high, and his 
wife somewhat less. So you see they were tall- 
er than the camel, or even the lordly lion; but 
more than half of their great height was due to 
their great length of neck and limb, for their 
bodies were only about seven feet high at their 
shoulders, the highest point. Their heads were 
small and shapely, and looked much like the 
head of a deer, only they lacked the antlers 
of the deer. Their soft, lustrous eyes gave 
their faces a gentle expression that was peculiar- 
ly attractive, and their graceful bodies were 
beautifully dappled; the background was orange 
red, and the dark spots made one think of the 
leopard. Indeed, the family name was camel- 
opard; and one must admit that the characteris- 
tics of both camel and leopard were beautifully 
blended. Their long tails ended in luxurious 
tufts of dark hair, which was not alone for or- 
nament, for it served to keep off the many poi- 

(237) ' 




THE GIRAFFE. 



(238) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 239 

sonous flies and other insects so deadly in that 
tropical clime. 

"Come, my dear," said Mr. Giraffe, who had 
been quietly browsing among the mimosa trees. 
"I think we will leave this place and travel on- 
ward, for I see something in the distance which 
fills me with foreboding. You know our land 
has been full of paleface hunters of late, and 
they have hearts that know no pity. Come, let 
us up and away." 

But the words were scarcely uttered when a 
party of hunters came in sight, and their foam- 
ing horses and the lassoes they carried showed 
that they meant no good to our happy family of 
giraffes. They all bounded away with the long 
strides peculiar to them, the horsemen following 
hard after. It was a close, hot chase, but the 
giraffes were fresh and fleet. One of the hun- 
ters came very near to the fleeing creatures, and 
just as he thought the victory was his one blow 
from the agile heels of the head of the family 
laid him out upon the arid sand. Two of the 
party paused to care for their fallen comrade; 
the rest went flying on. 

Finally two of the young giraffes were cap- 
tured, and one of the hunters, a fierce-looking 
Arab, cried out: "We'll never catch the old 
ones; let's hamstring them." So they drew 
their long swords, and, riding up as near as pos- 



2 J:0 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

sible, struck one sharp blow, which cut the ten- 
dons of the giraffes' legs, and the two noble crea- 
tures fell panting and helpless upon the sand. 

So the flesh of the father and mother was 
turned into meat, and it was sweet and tooth- 
some as the finest venison; and the skin made 
the finest leather for sandals you ever saw. 
But the two little orphan giraffes were carried 
to San Francisco and placed in the zoological 
gardens, where Fletcher will see them when he 
visits his Uncle Stuart next year. 



THE LEOPARD. 

"I have never been able to understand wheth- 
er leopards and panthers are the same animal or 
not; and then sometimes I read about the 'pard. 1 
Does that mean leopard too?" asked Fletcher 
one day after a long and earnest scrutiny of a 
beautiful spotted animal. 




THE LEOPARD. 



" The names 'leopard,' ' panther,' and 'pard' 
have been variously given to animals belonging 
to the feline or cat family, which are smaller 
but scarcely less fierce than the lion. Some 
men say that leopards and panthers are the 
same animal, only with such variations as may 
be in the same family; while others declare that 
they should be classed as two separate species. 
The larger and more robust variety is called 
panther, and the smaller and more graceful is 
what we understand by leopard; but these ani- 
16 (241) 



242 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



mals certainly belong to the cat family, and 
are so much alike that I think it is useless to 
try to divide them," said the Professor, who 
was never so well pleased as when his pupil 
showed a disposition to inquire into matters on 
his own account. "Leopards are wondrously 
beautiful creatures. Their fur varies from a 




THE OUNCE. 

pale fawn color to a brownish buff on the up- 
per part, and gradually turning to ai pure white 
below. This is spotted over with dark brown 
and black, looking like rosettes. Sometimes 
leopards are perfectly black, but these are what 
are called c freaks,' and are by no means com- 
mon. The leopard is as cruel and ferocious as 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 243 

the lion or tiger, although not so large or pow- 
erful as these. It likes to dwell in wooded re- 
gions, and can climb trees with a good deal of 
ease; but it only does this when pursued, and 
prefers to stay on the ground." 

"Are there any other catlike animals?" asked 
Fletcher. 

"Yes; there is the ounce, or snow leopard. 
It is never found except among the 'everlasting 
snows,' and is covered with a very heavy yel- 
lowish-gray fur, spotted like the true leopard. 
It kills wild sheep, goats, dogs, or any small 
animal it can steal upon; but I never heard of 
it killing a man. Then there is the ocelet, a 
handsome wild cat which is found in the warm 
regions of our own country. It is not fierce 
and bold, like the common wild cat, but timid, 
and shrinks away from man. And the serval is 
a wild cat of Africa. It has a large, heavy 
body and a shorter tail than the ordinary cat. 
Indeed, there are many other members of the 
cat family with which I hope to make you ac- 
quainted." 



THE RHINOCEROS. 



"Kin yer tell me what kin' o' hoss de rhhioce- 
hoss am? I ain' neber seed one ob 'em," said 
Uncle Si as he and Fletcher sat over the glow- 
ing coals one December day discussing popcorn 
and natural history by turns. 

Fletcher looked puzzled. "Why, I never 




ONE-HORNED RHINOCEROS. 

heard of such a horse as that, Uncle Si. Are 
you not mistaken in the name?" 

"I doan t'ink I kin be, littP mas'. Me V 
Uncle Zeke 'uz 'scussin' warious animules las' 
night, an' he tol' me 'bout de rhinocehoss what 
he seed in John Robinson's show long ergo. 
He say hit were de uglies' creetur he eber seed, 
wid er sort o' stumpy tail an' er great ol' horn 
stickin' outen de top o' hit's nose." 
(244) 



OUT AMONG THE AXIMALS. 245 

The light began to dawn upon what Uncle 
Si meant, and Fletcher said: "Perhaps he said 
rhinoceros, Uncle Si, instead of rhinoceAoss." 

"No, he nebber; he jes' said de berry t'ing 
I done toP yer. - But he mout o' meant dat ud- 
der — what yo' call 'im? Uncle Zeke's lak dis 
oP niggah: he gits t'ings sort o' jumbled up 
'casionally." 

"Perhaps he meant rhinoceros, if he did not 




TWO-HORNED KHINOCEROS. 



say so, Uncle Si. There is a very ugly animal 
by that name. Do you want to hear about 
him? Here is his picture now." And Fletcher 
opened his book on animals. 

Uncle Si chuckled with delight. "Yes, sah. 
I know dat's de bery gentermun. Dere's de 
snout, dere's de stumpy tail. Dat's him. I'll 
bet my bones on dat. Whah he come f'um?" 

"Well, this is the one-horned rhinoceros. 
He comes from a country over on the other side 



246 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

of the world called India. He is the largest 
and best known of his family. In India he runs 
wild, but we never see him except in shows or 
zoological gardens. Then there's another one- 
horned rhinoceros that comes from Java. That 
is smaller than the other and has a different- 
looking skin. Then there are rhinoceroces that 
have two horns, and I think they are uglier 
than the one-horned fellows. Here is the pic- 
ture of one." 

"Ugh! he am er ornery-lookin' brute," said 
Uncle Si, recoiling. What do dese rhinoceros- 
es, eat? Dey's wicious-lookin' anmules." 

' ' They eat leaves and the branches of trees. 
They are what we call vegetable feeders. They 
sleep during the day, and come out at night to 
browse upon the bushes and lower branches of 
trees. They are not wild and fierce like lions 
and tigers, but are timid and afraid of man; 
and they are good runners, but not equal to a 
swift horse. Look at their feet — they look just 
like those of a horse, don't they?" 

"Yes, an' I bleeb Uncle Zeke 'uz right — I 
bleeb dey's a kin' o' hosses." 

"They do belong to the same class of animals, 
Uncle Si; they are what you call hoofed animals, 
and the horse and the tapir are the only other 
hoofed animals that belong to that class." 

"Do folks eat dese rhinocehosses?" asked 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 2 17 

Uncle Si, still clinging to his original pronun- 
ciation. 

"In the countries where they come from they 
sometimes roast their meat, and it is said to be 
very juicy and sweet. But it is not likely that 
rhinoceros meat will ever get common any- 
where, as the hunters are killing out these ani- 
mals very fast. The Professor was telling me 
the other day that there used to be a great many 
kinds of rhinoceroses that are not found at all 
now. They have all been killed out." 

"Well," said Uncle Si, " effen dey looks lak 
dere picters, I doan blame folks fur killin' 'em, 
for dey's pointedly too ornery- lookin' ter lib." 
And Uncle Si turned away from the picture of 
the "rhinocehoss" with a look of disgust on 
his kind old face. 



THE MAMMOTH. 



"Have we all the animals now that the 
world has ever seen?" said Fletcher one day 
as he amused himself with a copy of an old 
zoology which his father had studied when he 
was a boy. 




THE MAMMOTH. 

"Ah no," my boy," replied the Professor; 
"since time began the world has had many ani- 
mals of which we have no specimens at all to- 
day. These are what we call extinct animals." 

"But how do animals become extinct, and 
how do we find out anything about them when 
they are extinct?" There are various ways 
in which a species may become extinct, but I 
suppose the most common is the perpetual in- 
roads upon the animal kingdom by that prince 
(248) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 249 

of all animals, man. But we find out about 
extinct animals by their skeletons and remains, 
which are found in the earth, in caves, and some- 
times petrified among the rocks. There is noth- 
ing more fascinating than the unearthing of 
these hidden wonders, and many learned men 
have spent their lives in such studies." 

"What have they found?" asked Fletcher. 

"They have found the perfect skeletons and 
in some cases the remains of animals which are 
not now found in any country. The best au- 
thenticated of these is the mammoth, an im- 
mense creature resembling the elephant of the 
present day. In the frozen regions of Siberia 
are found not only vast numbers of skeletons 
of this animal, but even the entire carcasses, 
with the flesh, skin, and hair in a fair state of 
preservation." 

"What is the difference between it and our 
own elephants?" Fletcher queried. 

' ' The formation of the teeth is different. You 
know naturalists lay great stress on what they 
term an animal's dentition. Then the skull is 
somewhat different in shape. But a very marked 
point of difference is that the mammoth was cov- 
ered not only with a coat of long, coarse outer 
hair, but with a close, woolly under hair of a red- 
dish-brown color. From the fact that for a long 
period a regular trade in the ivory from these 



2r>0 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

unearthed skeletons has been carried on, you 
may imagine how numerous the family of mam- 
moths must have been." 

"Are there any more extinct animals? I like 
to hear about them," pursued Fletcher. 

"Yes, many others, but the principal ones 
are the mastodon and the megatherium." 



THE WHALE. 

"What yer gibin' me, chile? De bery idee! 
Sholy yer mus' t'ink dis oP niggah's in hes do- 
tage! J oner neber swattered de whale, yer say! 
Yer can't poke no sech ez dat down my froat! 
In cose Jonah swallered de whale, an' ebber- 




GREEXLAXD OR ARCTIC WHALE. 

body what's larnt in de Scripter knows dat fur 
er fac\ I'se hyerd Brudder Hankins circum- 
navergate dat p'int too often V be mistaken. 
De nex' t'ing yer'll be tellin' me dat Xoer neber 
build de ark, an' dat Samson didn't slay dem 
Philippines wid de jawbone ob an ass! G'long 
off, chile, an' (loan try t' onsettle dis oF dahkey's 
"ligious principle:'' with which admonition Un- 
cle Si left Fletcher to pursue his natural history 
studies without let or hindrance. 

"Tell me," asked Fletcher as the Professor 
put on his glasses to examine the unlovely pic- 
ture of a whale in the volume before him, "is 

(251) 



252 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

the whale a fish, or a reptile, or a mammal? 
I cannot quite make out just where it belongs." 
"The whale, my dear boy, is no more of a 
fish than a bat is a bird. Only in its fishlike 
form and its adaptation to the water does it re- 
semble a fish; but in every particular which goes 
to classify an animal the whale is as much a 
mammal as a cow or a horse. We cannot sup- 




SPERM WHALE. 

pose that everything that lives in the water is a 
fish." 

"What is meant by the 'blubber' of whales? 
Tou hear so much of that when people speak of 
whales." 

"The blubber is a peculiarly dense kind of 
fat just beneath the whale's skin." 

"What is it good for?" asked Fletcher. 

"The whale fisher would tell you that it is 
good to make oil, but I dare say if the whale 
could talk he would tell you that it is good to 
keep him warm. Whale oil, you know, is a most 
important article of trade. This oil is made 
from the blubber of any sort of whale, and 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 253 

even of dolphins. Then there is a particular 
oil known as 'sperm oil' that is obtained only 
from the sperm whale. The whale fisheries of 
the world are one of the most important 
sources of trade, and hundreds of men spend 
their lives in this perilous business." 

"Where are the whale fisheries, Professor?" 

"They may be best classed as the British, 
Norwegian, and American. You know it has 
not been an easy matter to settle just where the 
fishing rights of each country began and ended, 
and nations have often come very near to war 
on account of their whaling interests." 

"Are whales good for anything besides their 
oil?" 

"Yes. If you will think a moment, you will 
recall another very important article that comes 
from the whale." 

"Why, to be sure — whalebone. I wonder I 
should forget that. That is what the women 
use so much." 

"Yes, and not only the women; for whale- 
bone, besides being used in dresses, etc., is cut 
very fine and made into various kinds of brush- 
es for cleaning machinery, ships, etc. Indeed, 
the whale is a most interesting and useful ani- 
mal, and I am glad that Uncle Si is mistaken in 
thinking that Jonah swallowed him,'' 



CRUSTACEANS. 

"Well, Uncle Si, we have come to the crus- 
taceans in our natural history. Would you like 
to join us?" said Fletcher teasingly, one morn- 
ing as the old darky busied himself about the 
schoolroom. 

"Crus what?" ejaculated Uncle Si, dropping 




THE CRAWFISH. 

his under jaw, and struggling very hard to mas- 
ter the big word. 

"Crustaceans, Uncle Si. They are animals 
whose bodies are made up of funny little bony 
rings, and each one of these rings generally has 
a pair of limbs hitched on to it." 

"I dunno, honey; I dunno! I'se pow'ful fon' 
o' hearin' y'alls talk 'bout dem high-larnt sub- 
(254) 



OUT AMOXG THR ANIMALS. 255 

jecks, but 'peahs lak dey won't stick in dis oP 
niggah's head. Dey kinder rumble erroun' er- 
while, an' den erway dey goes. Speck I'd bet- 
tah look atter dem squash bugs in de gyarden. 
I kin circumnavergate dem, an' dere's eatirt in 




THE SHRIMP. 

dat bizness, while dere ain' nuffin' but fun in 
hangin' roun' lissenin' t' y'alls 'scuss ferloserfy;" 
and rather regretfully Uncle Si left Fletcher 
and the Professor to their lesson on crusta- 
ceans. 

"Suppose," began the Professor, "you had 
never heard of the word 'crustaceans.' How 
would you go to work to find out what it 
meant?" 

"I should consult the dictionary," said Fletch- 
er in a twinkling. 

"But suppose you were where no dictionary 
could be had. What then? " 

"Well," began Fletcher, meditating a mo- 
ment, "I should remember my Latin, and when 
I consider that crasta meant the hard surface of 
a body, I should soon know that crustaceans are 



256 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

animals with a hard or crusty covering. Is that 
right?" 

"That's it exactly," said the Professor, well 
pleased. Crustaceans are covered with a sort of 
horny outer covering that, like the envelope we 
put on our letter, protects the parts within. 
Only the inner part of their crustacean grows 
to his envelope instead of simply being inclosed 
in it, as the letter is in the paper envelope. In- 




THE LOBSTER. 

side of this bony covering is the skeleton of the 
crustacean. This is made up of a series of rings, 
twenty- one in all, and these divisions are called 
somites, or segments. We will call them seg- 
ments, for we all know that 'segments' means 
'parts.'" 

"How do the things breathe?" asked Fletch- 
er. 

"They breathe by means of gills. In some 
species they are attached to the sides of the 
body; in others, to some of the limbs." 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 257 

'•Then of course crustaceans all live in water, 
if they breathe through gills." 

"No, that is the strange part of it. While 
we must suppose that water is the natural ele- 
ment of crustaceans, yet there are various kinds 
of these animals that habitually live out of the 
water. We shall find out about this when we 
get to crabs, as we shall in our next lesson. But 
all crustaceans lay their eggs in the water, and 
the young are hatched there, after which the 
parents give themselves no further concern 
about them." 

"What crustaceans are we going to take up, 
Professor?" asked Fletcher, scanning the pic- 
tures of those bony, sprangling creatures with 
keen interest. 

"I dare say when we have found out some- 
thing about crabs and lobsters we will be con- 
tent to go on to the next group, for these are 
the animals that usually come into our mind 
when we speak of crustaceans." 

17 



A CRABBED CREATURE. 



"Umph! what yer call dat dere ten-legged 
creetur', littl' mas' ? " said Uncle Si as Fletcher 




THE EDIBLE CRAB. 

examined an ugly, sprawling crab under the mi- 
croscope. 

"That's a crab, Uncle Si. Suppose you let 
him get a grip on you with his nippers, just to 
see if you can pull loose?" 

"Now mebbe I will," cried Uncle Si, retreat- 
ing. "When dat gentermun git dem claws o* 
hissen inter my meat hit gwine t' be when dis ol' 
niggah done lossen de use o' hes laigs." 
(258) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 259 

"You don't like his looks, eh, Uncle Si?" 
said the Professor, entering just then. "Why, 
Fletcher and I think him a very interesting ani- 
mal!" 

"Dat all may be so, Mas' Puffesser, but dere 
must be diffunce o' 'pinion in de bes' ob fam- 
blys, an' you an' littP mas' kin circumquatulate 
'bout dem crawlin', squirmin' warmints all yer 
lak's, but I won' tek none ob 'em in mine" 




THE LAND CRAB. 

"I fear Uncle Si's natural history education 
must be cut short," said the Professor, as Uncle 
Si departed whistling "'Down in Alabama," "un- 
less he can overcome his horror of what he 
calls 'squirmin' creeturs.' To me this crab is 
wonderfully interesting. Just see his ten legs, 
and watch how his fore legs play the part of nip- 
pers to clasp things and as weapons of offense 
and defense! Did you ever see a baby crab?" 

"I never did," said Fletcher. 

"Well, you'd never suspect that it was a crab 



260 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

at all; indeed, they look so little like their par- 
ents that it was a long time before even our 
best naturalists suspected their relation. They 
go through several metamorphoses, just as in- 
sects do. When the little crab is hatched out 
in the water where its mother has deposited her 
eggs it has a long tail and every appendage for 
swimming. Its eyes are not elevated on a stalk, 
but are what we call sessile. By and by it sheds 
its tail and its eyes come out on stalks on its fore 
legs. Still it takes several moltings to give it a 
crablike appearance. Like some lizards, the 
crab can cast off a limb when it is injured, just 
as the lizard will cast off its tail to keep from 
being captured; and here comes in the wonder- 
ful kindness and providence of God: When this 
is done, instead of doing without, as we supe- 
rior creatures must do, the crab is his own sur- 
geon, and by a power unknown to us he can re- 
produce the limb that was lost." 

"Are all crabs as small as this little fellow V 
asked Fletcher. "I found him in the bottom 
of our yawl." 

"No, indeed! there are many varieties of very 
large crabs. There is a great or edible crab, 
which was esteemed a delicacy by the Romans 
long ago. This is one of the largest known 
crabs, and often weighs from ten to twelve 
pounds. Then there is the shore crab, found 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 261 

on the coasts of Britain. Then there is a crab 
called the inachus kempferi, which is larger 
than all other crabs, if you count its nippers, 
which are sometimes ten feet from tip to tip; 
but its body is not to be compared to the great 
crab as an article of diet. These are various 
other species, of which I have not time to speak 
to-day. Crab-fishing is a popular industry off 
the coast of Scotland, and many crabs are also 
shipped to England from Norway, where they 
are found in great numbers." 

"No wonder cross-grained people are called 
'crabbed!'" said Fletcher as the lesson con- 
cluded, "for a more crusty, rough, disagreeable- 
looking somebody than Mr. Crab I can't imag- 
ine. I'll try never to let mother say I'm crab- 
bed any more, if it makes me look like him." 



A HOMELY PRISONER. 

" Well, I have read of crayfish all my life, 
and I thought they were something very fine 
and stylish, and lo and behold! they are nothing 
but old ugly crawfish, that have nibbled at my 




CRAWFISH. 

toes all my life !" and Fletcher threw down his 
book in supreme disgust. I thought when my 
cousins in Louisiana wrote to me about 'cray- 
fishing' that it was very grand sport. I didn't 
know I was doing the very same thing here on 
the banks of the French Broad.'.' 

Fletcher took Mr. Crawfish — or Crayfish, if 

you prefer — from a tin can where he had safely 

stored him, and looked at him critically. "You 

are a full-fledged crustacean, and no mistake," 

(262) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 263 

he said, addressing the ugly, horny fellow, "for 
your coat is crusty and hard, to be sure, and 
there are your old strong nippers and your four 
other pairs of walking legs — ten legs for you. 
That makes you a decapod crustacean, horny- 
bodied and ten-legged. And here I see you have 
six other pairs of legs hidden under your abdo- 
men. The Professor says they are your 'swim- 
merets,' or little swimmers. No wonder I had 
such a time catching you! A fellow with ten 
walkers and twelve swimmers is a poor excuse 
if he can't get away from a boy with only two 
legs," and Fletcher chuckled at his own joke. 

"I think, my man, if you were to cut off your 
tail, that looks so fishy, you'd be a regular crab, 
and I've seen you use those strong nippers of 
yours, and it's no wonder the little minnows 
scud away when they see you coming, for I'll 
not forget in many a day how you clamped my 
foot when I waded in after you. I believe I 
will put you back into the river, and some day 
I'll come back and catch you again. Maybe next 
time Aunt Mirny will put you in the skillet." 

As Fletcher wended his way to the river he 
met the Professor and showed him his ugly cap- 
tive. "Yes, he's a pretty crusty-looking fel- 
low," said the Professor. "I would put him 
back in the river, for I never saw any one eat 
those small crawfishes. In Louisiana and all 



264 OITT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

along the Southern coast crayfishing, as it is 
termed, is fine sport, and the sport is not done 
until they are eaten, for they are really delicious. 
In Europe too the river crayfish, which is much 
larger than this little fellow, is largely caught 
and is thought to be a great delicacy. The 
Australian crayfish is as large as a lobster. 
There is the shrimp too that is good to eat. It is 
like the crayfish in having ten walking and twelve 
swimming limbs. These decapod crustaceans 
walk around on the sandy sea bottom. There 
are two kinds of shrimp. One of them turns 
brown when boiled ; the other red, like the 
lobster. You have heard of 'red as a boiled 
lobster,' I am sure. On the eastern coast of 
North America shrimps are abundant, and they 
are found also from Southern California to 
Alaska, on the western coast. One of the finest 
breakfasts I ever enjoyed was partly made of 
shrimp at a San Francisco hotel, where the Chi- 
nese waiter kept insisting on 'slimp heap good,' 
and I found that he was right about that." 



TORTOISE, TURTLE, TERRAPIN. 

One day Fletcher entered Uncle Si's cabin 
with a queer dun-colored creature in a little 
box. It had short club-shaped feet with blunt 




MUD TORTOISE. 

claws, and on its back it carried a heavy and 
very bonelike shell. Uncle Si paused to look at 
it. 

"Uncle Si," said Fletcher, "I want you to 
tell me whether this is a turtle or a tortoise or a 
terrapin. I know there is a difference, but I 
don't know just what it is." 

"Now heah yer is erg'in, tryin' t' puzzle dis 
oP niggah 'bout dat oP mud turkle, but yer'll 
hatter go t' de Puffesser dis time, kase I doan 
jes' 'zackly know de diffunce myse'f . G'long an' 
ax him: he gib yer heap mo' satisfication than a 
po' oP ign'ant darky." 

(265) 



266 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



So Fletcher picked up his box and carried it 
and his question to the Professor, whom he 




HAWKBILL TURTLE. 



found at leisure on the lawn. "Strictly speak- 
ing," said the Professor, "that is a terrapin, 




LOGGERHEAD TURTLE. 



which is properly the name of the fresh- water 
species of the order of reptiles called chelonians. 
Can you remember that name?" 

" ' Chelonians' — that is pretty tough, but I'll 
try. So this is a terrapin. Uncle Si says 'it's 
nuffin' but er ol' mud turkle,' and I did get it on 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 267 

the banks of the fish pond. Now, what I want 
to know, if you please, sir, is: "Are turtles, tor- 
toises, and terrapins all the same animal?" 




TORTOISE. 



"They are, and they are not. You are an 
American, but you are a different sort of Amer- 
ican from your sister. So, turtles, terrapins, 
and tortoises are all chelonians, but they are not 




GREEN TURTLE. 



exactly alike, As I said at the outset, terrapin 
is the name of the fresh-water species of the 
tropics and of the New World, so that, strictly 



268 otff among Tim animals. 

speaking, terrapin and turtle sometimes mean 
the same; as turtle is the name of all the va- 
rious chelonians who pass most of their lives in 
water, whether it is salt or fresh water." 

"What about Mr. Tortoise," asked Fletcher. 

"Well, you might call him a dry land turtle, 
as the name tortoise should be given only to 
those members of the family who live on land. 
Let me see your terrapin." 

They took the ugly creature out of its box, 
and it thrust its head out of its shell and gazed 
curiously about. The Professor told Fletcher 
that chelonians had no teeth. 

"No teeth? How do they eat?" he ex- 
claimed. 

"If he would let you look into his mouth, you 
would find that his jaws are protected by horny 
sheaths, whose sharp edges are almost as good as 
teeth." 

"What a funny little tail he has!" said Fletch- 
er, as Mr. Terrapin crept along on the floor, as 
if to get acquainted with his new surroundings. 

"Yes, this one's tail is short. All chelonians 
have some sort of a tail, but it varies in length. 
You would hardly believe it, would you? that, 
counting tortoises, terrapins, and turtles, there 
are about two hundred and twenty varieties of 
this little creature. They all lay eggs, and are 
useful to man in many ways. You have seen 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 269 

your mother's beautiful tortoise-shell comb, and 
this is only one of the many uses to which the 
shell of the tortoise is adapted. I could tell you 
many other interesting things about these little 
creatures, but your father is calling you now." 



MOLLUSKS IN GENERAL AND OYSTERS 
IN PARTICULAR. 



"Did you and Uncle Si exhaust the subject 
of 'oystyers' in your talk yesterday?" asked 




1 Young oyster with locomotive power. 

2 Group of oysters of different ages at- 

tached to a piece of wood. 

the Professor the day after Uncle Si had deliv- 
ered his recollections of the "toothsome bi- 
valve." 

< < I hardly think we did, " said Fletcher. * ' Un- 
cle Si is pretty good authority on any subject he's 
familar with, but I want to hear what you have 
(270) 



OCT AMOHG THE AXQIAL- '1 • 1 

to say on a few ' skyentincal ' points, as Uncle 
Si savs. The first thing I want vou to tell nie. 
i please, is to *^hat class of animals oysters 
belong. ' ' 

• ' They are what we call mollusks — or Mollus- 
ca, to be strictly 'skyentincal.' This is one of 
the most extensive of all the families, and takes 
in oysters, lams, mussels, snails, barnacles, and 




s>*a:l. 



hundreds of other marine and land creatures. 
There are shell- bearing mollusks and r. 
mollusks; but they are all alike in this: that 
they all commence their life as a single cell, 
which multiplies itself in the most wonderful 
and intricate manner. Oyst - are the most im- 
portant and to my mind the most interests g : 
all mollusks." 

• • They certainly are interesting, especially 
after Aunt Mirny has had hold of them," 
laughed Fletcher, who was a great oyster eater. 
"I read in the newspaper the other day thattbe 



272 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

natural oyster beds were being exhausted, and 
that oyster culture would soon pass out of the 
hands of the fishermen, and that men who raised 
oysters artificially would manage the whole 
thing." 

"That is very true. The fishermen, like the 
old woman who killed the goose that laid the 




MUSSEL. 

golden egg, have nearly ruined the natural beds 
by what is known as 'overdredging.' In the 
artificial beds the oysters are assorted, and those 
too small for market are put back into the sea 
and allowed to grow. You can get some idea of 
what an immense business the oyster industry is 
when I tell you that its products are three times 
as valuable as the cod fishery and six times as 
valuable as the whale fishery. There are in the 
United States over fifty thousand people em- 
ployed in it, and more than $10,500,000," 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 273 

Fletcher opened his eves in astonishment. 
He had never dreamed that the unpretentious 
little oyster was such an important personage. 
Where do they all come from — the oysters, I 
mean, not the people?" asked Fletcher as he 
noted the facts in his little book. 

"In the United States fully eighty per cent 
come from the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. 
Then in France, Great Britain — in fact, all over 




CLAM. 

Europe — millions are caught every year. The 
French are rather ahead of all other countries in 
oyster culture, and the young oysters are col- 
lected upon tiles and placed in artificial ponds; 
so that they are under the control of the owners, 
just like the garden plants. These French oys- 
ter beds are kept under government control, 
and so are the beds in some of the other Euro- 
pean countries. But in America and Great 
Britain the beds are free to all comers except 
during what is called 'close time,'" 
18 



274 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

" What are cove oysters, Professor?" 
c ' They are nothing but oysters that have been 
thoroughly steamed and are then sealed up air- 
tight. Usually the smaller oysters are taken 
for this purpose, while the finer ones are packed 
in ice and used as 'fresh' oysters. But you have 
never known the fine flavor of an oyster until 
you have taken them fresh from the oyster bed 
and roasted them shell and all in a fire built on 
the shore. Some day your father will take you 
to see your Virginia relatives, and then you can 
have this pleasure." 



SNAKE TALES. 

"Umph!" said Uncle Si as he beheld the pic- 
tures of reptiles graphically displayed in Fletch- 
er's natural history; "I doan see what yer want 




VIPER. 



t' be steddyin' 'bout dem horrid, creepin' t'ings 
fur. 'Cordin' t' my 'pinion, dat am ergin Scrip- 
ter, fur doan de Bible plainly say dat dere am 
enmity 'twixt de seed o' de 'oman an' de sar- 
pint? Which sholy do mean dat folks ain' got 
no biz'ness projeckin' wid dem crawlin', squirm- 
in' creeturs. All dis ol' nigger want to know 
'bout snakes am how to kill 'em; an' effen he 
happen t' git bit, he gwine'r fly mighty quick 
fur de doctah stid o' settin' up zarnin' in de 
joggerfy." 

(275) 



276 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

So Uncle Si left Fletcher to "zarn in de jog- 
gerfy" while he went out to gather vegetables 
for dinner. But Fletcher had no religious 
scruples about projeckin 5 wid dem crawlin 5 
creeters," so he continued his studies, and 
gained much useful information on the subject 
of snakes. He found that there are between 




RATTLESNAKE. 

fifteen hundred and eighteen hundred differ- 
ent kinds of snakes, and that there is scarcely 
a spot of earth where some species of reptile 
is not found. He learned that there are but a 
comparatively small number in temperate re- 
gions, but amid the rank vegetation of the 
tropics they find their most congenial home and 
flourish in vast numbers. 



OUT AMONG THE AXDIALS. li < 

Most of the snakes known to science may be 
put in one of the following classes: Burrowing 
snakes, ground snakes, tree snakes, fresh-water 
snakes, sea snakes. Burrowing snakes live en- 
tirely under the ground, and are altogether 
harmless. Fresh -water snakes feed on fish, 
frogs, etc., and are perfectly harmless to man. 
Those snakes which live in the sea are poi- 
sonous ; but as they rarely leave the water, 
and cannot live on the land, they should give 
us little uneasiness. Some snakes transact 
business in the night, but the majority of them 
are active only during the day; and the warm- 
er it grows the happier they seem to be. Their 
narrow, wormlike tongues are generally black, 
and the end is forked. When angry or ex- 
cited this tongue darts out in a way that may 
well make one tremble lest one may soon feel 
the deadly fangs. These fangs (in poisonous 
snakes) are connected with a poison gland, 
which the reptile knows well is his weapon of 
offense and of defense. 

All snakes are meat eaters, or, as we say, 
carnivorous, and rarely eat anything which 
they themselves have not killed. Sometimes 
they eat their victim, or rather gulp it down, 
without taking the trouble to kill it; again, they 
will smother it by folding it in a close embrace, 
or will kill it with one thrust of their deadly 



278 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

fangs, and then lie down by it and eat it at 
their leisure. Snakes use their teeth only to 
kill their prey, but not to masticate it as do all 
animals. They always swallow their victim 
whole, and it is taken into the stomach and di- 
gested. It is sometimes a laughable sight to 
see a snake in its efforts to force an entire 
frog or other animal down its gullet. Some- 
times it takes its snakeship several hours to ac- 
complish this feat, and when it is done it looks 
about as uncomfortable as we can well imagine 
any one who is supposed to have enjoyed a 
"square meal." 



THE WALRUS. 



"If beauty were the only passport to favor," 
said the Professor, "the walrus would be with- 
out a friend, for a creature more ungainly can- 
not well be imagined. A male walrus measures 




walrus. 

from ten to eleven feet from the end of its ugly 
nose to the end of its short, ungraceful tail. 
Its body is heavy and awkward, and its little 
rounded head, with no visible ears and small 
eyes, adds to its general unattractiveness. It has 
limbs in front and behind; the forearm (as it is 
sometimes called) is free only from the elbow, 
and ends in a broad, flat hand with well-marked 
webs for helping it in the water. The hind 

(279) 



280 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

limbs are inclosed in the skin of the body al- 
most to the heel, and then end in a fan-shaped 
member that one hardly knows whether to call 
a foot or a hand. The skin of the walrus is 
tough and leathery, and has an added protection 
in the short, yellowish-brown hair that cov- 
ers it. 

' ' Without its tusks, which are lacking in very 
young animals, the walrus is homely enough, 
but when these come out they give the animal a 
fierce, snappish look that makes one shudder. 
And those sharp tusks are not to be despised as 
weapons of offense and defense, for, while the 
walrus will not harm you if left unmolested, 
yet, when used in defense of itself or its young, 
these tusks become deadly instruments of war- 
fare. Usually, however, the tusks (sometimes 
two feet long) are used for digging and probing 
in the sand for the mollusks and crustaceans on 
which the walrus lives. 

"Like nearly all mammals, the walrus is 
what we term gregarious. They do not enjoy 
living alone any more than we do, and are 
usually found in herds. They do not venture 
far into the open sea — the walrus, you know, is 
what we call a marine animal — but are found 
near the coast or on floating masses of ice. 

"In the spring their young are born, and 
they love these with unusual affection. Polar 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 281 

bears are their worst foes, and they use their 
great tusks on these with deadly force. 

6 ' The walrus does not love the balmy air of 
the temperate zone, but is found in the regions 
of eternal ice and snow. As far as man has ex- 
plored the animal has been found, and in some 
of those frozen regions the walrus is the chief 
means of support for the inhabitants. One 
writer says : ' The flesh supplies them with 
food; the ivory tusks are made into implements 
used in the chase and for domestic purposes, 
as well as an article of barter; while the skin 
furnishes the material for covering their summer 
habitations, harness for their dog teams, and 
lines for their fishing gear.' The tusks of the 
walrus furnish a large portion of the ivory used 
in the manufacture of many useful and orna- 
mental articles; but it is said by experts to be 
inferior in quality to the ivory of the elephant's 
tusks. The skin makes good leather for many 
purposes, and the oil is also valuable. 

' ' There were formerly vast numbers of wal- 
rus in the arctic regions, but man has warred 
upon them so mercilessly that their herds have 
been greatly diminished." 



THE CROCODILE. 

"Well, I don't know what to make of my- 
self/' said a baby crocodile as it spread itself 
out to bask in the sun on the banks of a tropical 
river. "I don't know whether to call myself a 
fish or a fowl, a reptile or a quadruped, for it 
seems to me that I am a little of all. I can live 




THE CROCODILE. 

in the water, and am like a fish in that; I came 
out of an egg, so that makes me like a fowl; 
my form is like a lizard, and I have little, stumpy 
feet, but they will not carry me along, so I have 
to drag myself on the ground. I guess I am 
(282) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 283 

more of a reptile than anything else, and yet I am 
not quite satisfied about the matter. I'll just 
go to sleep in the sun, and leave the whole busi- 
ness to those wise people who care for such 
things." So saying he gulped down an impru- 
dent young fish that came that way, and soon 
was sleeping so soundly that a passing native 
mistook him for a log of wood and sat down 
upon him. 

It is no wonder that this inquiring young 
fellow found it hard to classify himself, for the 
crocodile does seem to partake of the nature of 
several classes of animals. But most natural- 
ists agree in calling him an amphibious reptile. 
Of course we all know that an amphibious rep- 
tile is one that can live either on the land or wa- 
ter, and this is just what the crocodile can do. 
He is happy in the water chasing his prey, 
which, when caught, he holds under water un- 
til it is drowned; but when this is done, he leaves 
the water and basks in the sun on the mud 
banks of rivers or marshes to devour his prey. 
Crocodiles are oviparous — that sounds like a 
very large word; but the little folks can learn, 
and the big little folks already know, that ovipa- 
rous means bringing forth eggs, and, funny as it 
seems, the great sprawling, ugly crocodile is 
hatched from an egg about the size of those 
laid by a goose. The mother crocodile deposits 



284 OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 

from twenty to sixty of these eggs in holes made 
in the sand or river side. Then, when the heat 
of the sun has hatched them out, she cares for 
the baby crocodiles with real maternal affection. 
But it is said that the male crocodile is a cruel 
father, and will devour his young unless pre- 
vented by his mate. 

Crocodiles are not often found in salty water, 
but live in the rivers and marshy lagoons of 
tropical regions. They are not half so stupid 
as they appear, and will pretend to be dead if at- 
tacked. They will lie perfectly motionless when 
they wish to deceive an animal which they in- 
tend to capture. When the animal ventures 
near enough to what it thinks must be a harm- 
less log, the shut eyes quickly unclose, the great 
jaws open, and — snap! then the captured prey 
will struggle in vain. 

There are three families of living crocodiles: 
Gavials, true crocodiles, and alligators. They 
grow to be sixteen or eighteen feet long, and are 
found in the rivers of Africa, Asia, and Amer- 
ica. The common crocodile is a fair type of 
the family. It is found in great numbers in the 
Nile River, and by the ancient Egyptians was 
given a place among the gods. Temples were 
built in its honor, and in these live crocodiles 
were kept and fed upon the daintiest food. 
When these crocodiles died their bodies were 



OUT AMONG THE AXIMALS. 285 

embalmed, and numbers of these mummies have 
been found in modern times by men who love 
to dig among the ruins of ancient cities. The 
alligator is simply a species of crocodile which 
is found only in North and South America. 



FLETCHER ON SEALS. 

From San Francisco had come a wonderful 
box. for Fletcher, filled with all manner of cu- 
rious and beautiful things, and no one needed 
to open the letter that came with it to know 
that Uncle Stuart was the sender. The letter 
said: "In the box you will find, my dear boy, a 
sealskin cap, which I hope you will wear with 
pleasure. I want you to get down all your 
books on natural history and write me what you 
know about the queer little animal who was 
robbed of his coat to make your cap." 

"I never saw any one like Uncle Stuart," 
said Fletcher, running his hand over the vel- 
vety surface of the cap. "He can hit upon 
more cunning ways to keep track of a fellow's 
progress than any one I know, except the Pro- 
fessor." 

So the next day Fletcher took a brand-new 
pen and a fresh tablet, and this is the letter he 
wrote: 

My Dear Uncle: That cap is certainly a beauty, and 
they all say it makes me look quite "swell; " but as 
that is slang, of which you don't approve, I had better 
not say much about it. I never supposed that seals 
were such interesting little creatures until that cap 
put me to studying about them, 
(286) 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



287 



They come under the head of marine animals, and 
they live entirely on the prey they capture in the wa- 
ter. But they are very fond of basking in the sun, 
and will lie for hours on the sandy beach if no one 
disturbs them. And yet — it seems strange, doesn't it? 
— the young seals do not seem to care much about the 
water, and often have to be forced into it and taught 
to swim by their mothers. 




SEAL. 



There are two different kinds of seals: hair seals 
and fur seals. The hair seals do not have such fine, 
soft under fur as the sea bears, as some people call 
the fur seals. But the hair seals are useful and valu- 
able, because their skins make fine leather, and their 
oil is also in great demand. The most important 
fisheries for the hair seals are those of Newfoundland 
and Labrador, but there are many others. Thou- 
sands of men devote their lives to this business, and 
sometimes one steamer has brought in forty -two 
thousand seals, which would be worth over $100,000. 
I think I shouldn't mind being a seal fisher myself, if 



288 



OUT AMONG THE ANIMALS. 



I could always be so lucky as that. But sometimes 
the poor fellows come home without a single seal, 
and then I guess things look pretty blue. 

But my cap never saw the back of one of these 
hair seals, but grew on some poor fur seal — perhaps 
away off the coast of Alaska. It is not the outside 
fur that is so beautiful and fine, but the inner fur. 

There is quite a difference in the size of the male 
and the female fur seal. The males, when grown, 
weigh from five hundred to seven hundred pounds; 
but the females weigh only from eighty to one hun- 
dred pounds. 

I could write a much longer letter about seals, but 
I will be like Sam Waller and stop short, so that 
you'll ' ' wish there was more. ' ' 

Your loving nephew, Fletcher. 




Sflfefr, 



t corv nn T o r * 
I, 28 190? 



L/BRARY OF 




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